Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 6, 1:33 AM ET

RTX max pain

Spot (delayed)$222.42
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$195-12.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.33±4.2% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.9224K puts / 26K calls
Call wall$210largest call OI
Put wall$195largest put OI
IV3024.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$15.7Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $210

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

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 7$210-5.6%1d
Fri, Aug 14$200-10.1%8d
Fri, Aug 21$195-12.3%15d
Fri, Aug 28$205-7.8%22d
Fri, Sep 4$210-5.6%29d
Fri, Sep 11$205-7.8%36d
Fri, Sep 18$190-14.6%43d
Fri, Oct 16$210-5.6%71d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot195110150190230270310$247M$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 — 195 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot195110155185207.52302654K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RTX 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

spot195110155185207.5230265385385
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot13517020524027531099%20%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 24.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 210140175195215235270+$4.5M$4.5M
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
0.94-0.052050.01080.06-0.06-0.08
0.91-0.07207.50.01460.08-0.07-0.11
0.87-0.092100.01930.10-0.09-0.15
0.82-0.11212.50.02420.12-0.11-0.20
0.75-0.132150.02900.14-0.12-0.27
0.68-0.14217.50.03280.17-0.14-0.34
0.59-0.152200.03530.18-0.14-0.42
0.50-0.15222.50.03590.18-0.15-0.51
0.41-0.142250.03470.18-0.14-0.60
0.33-0.13227.50.03190.17-0.13-0.68
0.26-0.122300.02820.15-0.12-0.75
0.20-0.10232.50.02390.13-0.10-0.81
0.15-0.092350.01970.11-0.08-0.85
0.11-0.07237.50.01590.09-0.07-0.89
0.09-0.062400.01260.07-0.06-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 52 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot105150187.5210232.52655K0
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

spot55115172.5202.5232.528012K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 108K call contracts, 102K 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: RTX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk