Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 12:57 PM ET

SA max pain

Spot (delayed)$32.17
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$20-37.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.25±28.8% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.08615 puts / 8K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3067.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$224Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $20

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 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$27-16.1%7d
Fri, Sep 18$27-16.1%35d
Fri, Nov 20$20-37.8%98d
Fri, Jan 15$23-28.5%154d
Fri, Feb 19$23-28.5%189d
Fri, Jan 21$15-53.4%525d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot20152229364350$14M$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot2015222732373K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SA open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot2015222732371K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot152229364350106%57%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 70.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 201522273237+$93K$93K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.81-0.01250.02280.04-0.01-0.18
0.78-0.01260.02500.05-0.02-0.21
0.75-0.02270.02700.05-0.02-0.25
0.72-0.02280.02880.06-0.02-0.28
0.69-0.02290.03030.06-0.02-0.31
0.65-0.02300.03160.06-0.02-0.35
0.62-0.02310.03250.06-0.02-0.38
0.58-0.02320.03310.07-0.02-0.41
0.55-0.02330.03340.07-0.02-0.45
0.52-0.02340.03350.07-0.02-0.48
0.49-0.02350.03340.07-0.02-0.51
0.46-0.02360.03300.07-0.02-0.54
0.43-0.02370.03250.07-0.02-0.57
0.41-0.02380.03190.07-0.02-0.59
0.36-0.02400.03030.06-0.02-0.64

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 25 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1521263136458K0
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

spot1521263136428K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 44K call contracts, 6K 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: SA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk