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Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 1, 3:43 AM ET

RIOT max pain

Spot (delayed)$20.05
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$19-5.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.02±30.0% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.3039K puts / 129K calls
Call wall$32largest call OI
Put wall$22largest put OI
IV30105.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.5Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $19

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 7$22+9.7%6d
Fri, Aug 14$20.5+2.2%13d
Fri, Aug 21$21+4.7%20d
Fri, Aug 28$21+4.7%27d
Fri, Sep 4$22+9.7%34d
Fri, Sep 11$18-10.2%41d
Fri, Sep 18$19-5.2%48d
Fri, Dec 18$20-0.2%139d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1911019273645$233M$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 — 19 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot19191725334117K17K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RIOT open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 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, Sep 18

spot1919172533419K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot21119283645311%74%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 103.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 1911018263442+$273K$273K
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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.90-0.01130.02100.01-0.01-0.10
0.87-0.02140.02610.02-0.02-0.13
0.83-0.02150.03140.02-0.02-0.17
0.79-0.02160.03660.02-0.02-0.21
0.74-0.03170.04140.02-0.03-0.26
0.69-0.03180.04540.03-0.03-0.31
0.64-0.03190.04860.03-0.03-0.36
0.59-0.03200.05080.03-0.03-0.41
0.54-0.03210.05210.03-0.03-0.46
0.49-0.03220.05240.03-0.03-0.51
0.45-0.03230.05200.03-0.03-0.56
0.40-0.03240.05090.03-0.03-0.60
0.36-0.03250.04920.03-0.03-0.65
0.32-0.03260.04710.03-0.03-0.68
0.29-0.03270.04470.03-0.03-0.72

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 45 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot11219.52530.54036K0
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

spot111.51722.5283566K66K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 444K call contracts, 210K 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: RIOT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk