Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 6, 5:30 AM ET

RPC max pain

Spot (delayed)$8.89
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$7.5-15.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.01±22.6% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.038 puts / 285 calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$7.5largest put OI
IV3052.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move

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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$10+12.5%8d
Fri, Sep 18$10+12.5%36d
Fri, Oct 16$7.5-15.6%64d
Fri, Jan 15$7.5-15.6%155d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7.55678910$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 — 7.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot7.557.510197197
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RPC open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 16.

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, Oct 16

spot7.557.51011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot57.510+$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, Oct 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.92-0.0150.03410.01-0.01-0.09
0.77-0.017.50.11260.01-0.01-0.24
0.38-0.01100.17550.01-0.01-0.65

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot57.5102030
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

spot2.57.512.517.5238238
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 335 call contracts, 36 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: RPC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk