Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 4:31 PM ET

RIO max pain

Spot (delayed)$96.78
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$85-12.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.5±16.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.5713K puts / 23K calls
Call wall$115largest call OI
Put wall$55largest put OI
IV3028.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.7Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $80

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$100+3.3%4d
Fri, Sep 18$97.5+0.7%32d
Fri, Oct 16$97.5+0.7%60d
Fri, Dec 18$92.5-4.4%123d
Fri, Jan 15$85-12.2%151d
Fri, Mar 19$92.5-4.4%214d
Thu, Jun 17$95-1.8%304d
Fri, Jan 21$82.5-14.8%522d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot85305784111138165$136M$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 — 85 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot853047.56582.51001355K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RIO open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot853047.56582.5100135121121
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot30578411113816581%30%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 31.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 803047.56582.5100135+$761K$761K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.84-0.01800.01070.15-0.02-0.16
0.82-0.0282.50.01230.17-0.02-0.19
0.78-0.02850.01390.18-0.02-0.22
0.74-0.0287.50.01560.20-0.02-0.26
0.70-0.02900.01720.21-0.02-0.30
0.66-0.0292.50.01860.23-0.02-0.35
0.61-0.02950.01970.24-0.03-0.40
0.56-0.0297.50.02050.24-0.03-0.45
0.51-0.021000.02090.25-0.03-0.51
0.41-0.021050.02050.24-0.03-0.61
0.32-0.021100.01890.22-0.02-0.71
0.24-0.021150.01650.20-0.02-0.80
0.18-0.021200.01390.17-0.02-0.87
0.14-0.011250.01140.14-0.01-0.92
0.10-0.011300.00910.12-0.02-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 42 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot5075901051301557K0
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

spot3047.56582.510013511K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 70K call contracts, 66K 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: RIO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk