Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 11:35 PM ET

SEG max pain

Spot (delayed)$27.71
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$25-9.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.18±22.3% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.7862 puts / 79 calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3048.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1Kper 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 · 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$25-9.8%5d
Fri, Sep 18$25-9.8%33d
Fri, Oct 16$25-9.8%61d
Fri, Jan 15$25-9.8%152d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot25151821242730$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 — 25 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot25152022.525305353
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SEG open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot25152022.5253011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot15182124273081%44%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 40.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 20152022.52530+$2K$2K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.93-0.01150.00970.02-0.01-0.07
0.84-0.01200.02130.04-0.01-0.15
0.78-0.0122.50.02980.05-0.01-0.21
0.69-0.01250.03930.06-0.01-0.31
0.45-0.01300.05010.07-0.01-0.55

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

spot22.525302050
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

spot1015202535222222
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 292 call contracts, 183 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: SEG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk