Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 6:20 AM ET

RGC max pain

Spot (delayed)$5.39
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$5-7.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.4±25.9% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.59523 puts / 882 calls
Call wall$7.5largest call OI
Put wall$2.5largest put OI
IV30179.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$734per 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$5-7.2%6d
Fri, Sep 18$17.5+224.7%34d
Fri, Dec 18$12.5+131.9%125d
Fri, Mar 19$2.5-53.6%216d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot53712162125$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot52.57.512.517.522.5289289
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RGC 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

spot52.57.512.517.522.5180180
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot3712162125573%141%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 157.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 7.52.57.512.517.5+$1K$1K
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
1.00-0.002.50.00570.00-0.00-0.00
0.68-0.0350.28720.00-0.03-0.32
0.14-0.027.50.15280.00-0.02-0.86
0.03-0.01100.03880.00-0.01-0.97
0.01-0.0012.50.01110.00-0.00-0.99
0.00-0.00150.0037-0.00-1.00
0.000.0017.50.00140.00-1.00
0.000.00200.00060.00-1.00
0.0022.50.00030.00-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 9 strikes around the money — all 10 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.51017.52540556010
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

spot2.51017.52540552K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 4K 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: RGC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk