Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 6:19 AM ET

RYTM max pain

Spot (delayed)$115.48
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$110-4.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$13.6±11.8% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.039 puts / 337 calls
Call wall$115largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3045.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$105Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $100

Event risk before this expiration: 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 21$100-13.4%4d
Fri, Sep 18$110-4.7%32d
Fri, Oct 16$80-30.7%60d
Fri, Nov 20$90-22.1%95d
Fri, Dec 18$70-39.4%123d
Fri, Jan 15$90-22.1%151d
Fri, Mar 19$75-35.1%214d
Fri, Dec 17$90-22.1%487d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot11095106117128139150$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 — 110 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot11095105115125135150320320
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RYTM 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

spot1109510511512513515022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot9510611712813915069%45%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 47.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 10095105115125135150+$103K$103K
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
0.87-0.07950.00980.08-0.07-0.13
0.82-0.071000.01320.09-0.07-0.18
0.75-0.081050.01730.11-0.08-0.25
0.65-0.091100.02150.13-0.09-0.34
0.54-0.091150.02420.14-0.09-0.46
0.42-0.091200.02400.14-0.09-0.58
0.32-0.081250.02130.13-0.09-0.68
0.24-0.081300.01770.11-0.08-0.76
0.18-0.071350.01440.10-0.07-0.81
0.14-0.061400.01170.08-0.06-0.85
0.09-0.051500.00780.06-0.05-0.91

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

spot601001201401603230
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

spot4570951201451701K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 960 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: RYTM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk