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

SBH max pain

Spot (delayed)$16.84
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$15-10.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.8±22.6% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI10.844K puts / 329 calls
Call wall$17.5largest call OI
Put wall$12.5largest put OI
IV3045.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$33Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

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 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

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$4M$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, Dec 18

spot152.57.512.517.522.54K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SBH open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 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, Dec 18

spot152.57.512.517.522.566
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot3711151923173%45%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 46.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 7.52.57.512.517.522.5+$38K$38K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.002.50.00170.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.0050.00430.01-0.00-0.02
0.96-0.007.50.00910.01-0.00-0.04
0.93-0.00100.01870.01-0.00-0.07
0.86-0.0012.50.03840.02-0.01-0.14
0.72-0.01150.06880.03-0.01-0.28
0.52-0.0117.50.08230.04-0.01-0.48
0.36-0.01200.07180.04-0.01-0.65
0.25-0.0122.50.05680.03-0.01-0.76

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