Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 12, 3:55 AM ET

SBH max pain

Spot (delayed)$16.84
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$15-10.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.05±6.2% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI1.42287 puts / 202 calls
Call wall$17.5largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3045.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$6Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $10

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$15-10.9%9d
Fri, Sep 18$15-10.9%37d
Fri, Dec 18$15-10.9%128d
Fri, Mar 19$15-10.9%219d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot153711151923$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot152.57.512.517.5119119
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SBH 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

spot152.57.512.517.51010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 101012.51517.522.5+$7K$7K
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
1.002.50.0002-0.00-0.00
1.0050.00060.00-0.00-0.00
1.000.007.50.00150.00-0.00-0.00
0.99-0.00100.00420.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.0012.50.01560.00-0.00-0.01
0.92-0.01150.10000.00-0.01-0.08
0.36-0.0317.50.25270.01-0.03-0.64
0.05-0.0122.50.03710.00-0.01-0.95

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

spot2.5101520254960
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5304K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 776 call contracts, 4K 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: SBH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk