Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 16, 5:30 AM ET

SGML max pain

Spot (delayed)$11.93
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$10-16.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.5±46.1% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.615K puts / 9K calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3092.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$28Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7

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$12+0.6%4d
Fri, Sep 18$11-7.8%32d
Fri, Oct 16$13+9.0%60d
Fri, Jan 15$10-16.2%151d
Fri, Jan 21$10-16.2%522d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot101713202632$14M$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 — 10 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1017131925312K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SGML 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

spot10171319253188
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1713202632241%73%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 90.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 71713192531+$15K$15K
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
0.93-0.0050.01400.01-0.00-0.06
0.91-0.0060.01960.01-0.00-0.09
0.87-0.0170.02620.02-0.01-0.12
0.83-0.0180.03310.02-0.01-0.16
0.78-0.0190.03980.02-0.01-0.21
0.72-0.01100.04570.03-0.01-0.27
0.67-0.01110.05030.03-0.01-0.32
0.61-0.01120.05350.03-0.01-0.38
0.56-0.01130.05520.03-0.01-0.43
0.51-0.01140.05580.03-0.01-0.48
0.47-0.01150.05550.03-0.01-0.53
0.43-0.01160.05450.03-0.01-0.57
0.39-0.01170.05300.03-0.01-0.61
0.35-0.01180.05120.03-0.01-0.64
0.33-0.01190.04910.03-0.01-0.67

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 32 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot510152025306K0
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

spot17131925317K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 32K call contracts, 16K 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: SGML workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk