Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 11, 11:08 PM ET

RDWR max pain

Spot (delayed)$28.58
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$25-12.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.95±6.8% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.2242 puts / 195 calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV3048.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$10Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $25

Event risk before this expiration: CPI release Wed, Aug 12 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$25-12.5%10d
Fri, Sep 18$26-9.0%38d
Fri, Nov 20$28-2.0%101d
Fri, Dec 18$28-2.0%129d
Fri, Mar 19$29+1.5%220d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot25172226313540$1M$0
■ put-side pain■ call-side painTotal payout option writers would owe at each settle price (both sides, all open interest, ×100 shares) — low settles hurt put writers, high settles hurt call writers. The minimum — 25 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot251721252933395656
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RDWR open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 21.

Open-interest change — building vs unwinding

Needs two observed snapshot days for this expiration — the comparison appears automatically once the next weekday snapshot lands. We diff real observations only; nothing is estimated.

Volume by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot2517212529333911
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot182227313640200%57%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 70.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 25172125293339+$3K$3K
Net dealer gamma per strike, in dollars per 1% move, assuming the standard convention (dealers long calls, short puts) — an assumption, not an observation. Above the amber flip level hedging tends to dampen moves; below it, to amplify them.

Greeks by strike · Fri, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.92-0.04220.02620.01-0.04-0.08
0.90-0.04230.03380.01-0.04-0.10
0.88-0.04240.04430.01-0.04-0.12
0.84-0.05250.05930.01-0.05-0.15
0.80-0.05260.08120.01-0.05-0.20
0.72-0.05270.11200.02-0.05-0.28
0.60-0.05280.14600.02-0.05-0.40
0.45-0.05290.15350.02-0.05-0.55
0.33-0.05300.12820.02-0.05-0.67
0.25-0.05310.09990.01-0.05-0.75
0.20-0.05320.07820.01-0.05-0.80
0.16-0.05330.06270.01-0.05-0.84
0.14-0.04340.05140.01-0.04-0.86
0.12-0.04350.04300.01-0.04-0.88
0.08-0.04380.02760.01-0.04-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1525293339590
Call open interest per strike, stacked across the checked expirations — each color is one expiry. Strikes are pruned to the liquid center of each chain.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot152025303540516516
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 400 call contracts, 1K put contracts open.

Reading this honestly

Max pain is arithmetic, not prophecy: the settle price that would minimize what option writers pay out at expiration, computed from open interest alone. Prices sometimes gravitate toward heavy strikes into expiry — dealer hedging is a real flow — but the evidence that max pain predicts settlement better than chance is mixed, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Use it as a map of where positioning is stacked, next to the fundamentals and the earnings calendar, not as a target.

Data: Cboe delayed public feed (~15 minutes), refreshed here about every 15 minutes. Open interest itself updates once daily, before the open. Educational information, not investment advice.

Keep going: RDWR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk