Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 5, 9:49 PM ET

ROAD max pain

Spot (delayed)$105.07
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$105-0.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$31.4±29.9% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.82205 puts / 250 calls
Call wall$110largest call OI
Put wall$110largest put OI
IV3063.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$6Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $115
Earnings · expectedThu, Aug 6usually after the close

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 · 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$100-4.8%16d← 1st expiry after earnings (Thu, Aug 6)
Fri, Sep 18$90-14.3%44d
Fri, Oct 16$100-4.8%72d
Fri, Jan 15$105-0.1%163d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1055582109136163190$2M$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 — 105 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot10555801051301551903737
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ROAD 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

spot105558010513015519022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot558210913616319067%50%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 56.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 1155580105130155190+$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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.89-0.02700.00430.13-0.03-0.11
0.86-0.02750.00520.16-0.03-0.14
0.82-0.03800.00610.18-0.03-0.18
0.79-0.03850.00700.21-0.04-0.22
0.74-0.04900.00790.23-0.04-0.26
0.70-0.04950.00860.25-0.04-0.31
0.65-0.041000.00930.26-0.04-0.36
0.60-0.041050.00980.27-0.05-0.41
0.55-0.041100.01010.28-0.05-0.46
0.50-0.041150.01030.28-0.05-0.51
0.45-0.041200.01030.28-0.04-0.56
0.41-0.041250.01020.27-0.04-0.61
0.36-0.041300.00990.26-0.04-0.66
0.32-0.041350.00950.25-0.04-0.70
0.29-0.041400.00910.24-0.04-0.74

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 26 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot60951201451702002320
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

spot5080110140170200727727
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 2K 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: ROAD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk