Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 19, 7:10 AM ET

SFD max pain

Spot (delayed)$22.55
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$22.5-0.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.75±3.3% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI1.95578 puts / 297 calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$22.5largest put OI
IV3023.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$128Kper 1% move

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$22.5-0.2%2d
Fri, Sep 18$22.5-0.2%30d
Fri, Nov 20$25+10.9%93d
Fri, Dec 18$25+10.9%121d
Fri, Mar 19$20-11.3%212d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot22.5182125283235$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 — 22.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot22.517.52022.5253035523523
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SFD 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

spot22.517.52022.525303511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot182023252830275%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 86.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot17.52022.5253035+$136K$136K
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
0.98-0.0217.50.01690.00-0.02-0.02
0.94-0.03200.06400.00-0.03-0.06
0.55-0.0522.50.55710.01-0.05-0.46
0.07-0.03250.09080.00-0.03-0.94
0.02-0.01300.01540.00-0.01-0.99
0.01-0.01350.00610.00-0.01-0.99

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

spot2022.52530355120
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

spot12.517.522.530401K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 2K 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: SFD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk