Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 28, 11:56 PM ET

SCHW max pain

Spot (delayed)$110.15
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$115+4.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.15±10.1% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.965K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$115largest call OI
Put wall$115largest put OI
IV3023.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$488Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $115

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, Sep 4$110-0.1%6d
Fri, Sep 11$108-2.0%13d
Fri, Sep 18$105-4.7%20d
Fri, Sep 25$108-2.0%27d
Fri, Oct 2$114+3.5%34d
Fri, Oct 9$105-4.7%41d
Fri, Oct 16$100-9.2%48d
Fri, Nov 20$115+4.4%83d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1157085100115130145$16M$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 — 115 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot115708597.51101251403K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SCHW 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

spot115708597.5110125140339339
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot708510011513014568%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 115708597.5110125140+$411K$411K
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
0.98-0.01800.00280.03-0.01-0.02
0.96-0.01850.00480.04-0.01-0.04
0.93-0.01900.00800.07-0.01-0.07
0.88-0.02950.01270.10-0.02-0.12
0.85-0.0297.50.01560.13-0.02-0.16
0.81-0.021000.01880.15-0.03-0.20
0.69-0.031050.02480.18-0.03-0.31
0.56-0.031100.02860.21-0.03-0.45
0.42-0.031150.02860.21-0.03-0.60
0.29-0.031200.02520.18-0.03-0.73
0.19-0.021250.01980.14-0.03-0.84
0.12-0.021300.01420.10-0.02-0.93
0.07-0.011350.00960.07-0.01-0.98
0.04-0.011400.00610.05-1.00
0.02-0.001450.00380.03-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 17 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot559010010811612421K0
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

spot32.5658910011313051K51K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 248K call contracts, 207K 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: SCHW workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk