Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 12, 4:20 AM ET

RDWR max pain

Spot (delayed)$28.58
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$28-2.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.95±24.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI10.90447 puts / 41 calls
Call wall$45largest call OI
Put wall$28largest put OI
IV3048.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$15Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $16

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — 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%9d
Fri, Sep 18$26-9.0%37d
Fri, Nov 20$28-2.0%100d
Fri, Dec 18$28-2.0%128d
Fri, Mar 19$29+1.5%219d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot28152127333945$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 — 28 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot28152128313645342342
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RDWR open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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, Dec 18

spot2815212831364511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot152127333945104%51%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 51.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 16152128313645+$13K$13K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.94-0.01150.00910.02-0.01-0.06
0.93-0.01160.01070.02-0.01-0.07
0.91-0.01170.01250.03-0.01-0.08
0.84-0.01210.02300.04-0.01-0.15
0.72-0.01250.03820.06-0.01-0.27
0.63-0.01270.04500.06-0.01-0.36
0.58-0.01280.04740.07-0.01-0.41
0.53-0.01290.04870.07-0.01-0.46
0.48-0.01300.04900.07-0.01-0.51
0.44-0.01310.04830.07-0.01-0.55
0.33-0.01340.04280.06-0.01-0.67
0.29-0.01350.04040.06-0.01-0.70
0.27-0.01360.03800.06-0.01-0.73
0.24-0.01370.03560.05-0.01-0.75
0.19-0.01400.02910.05-0.01-0.81

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 16 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