Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 1:22 PM ET

SHAZ max pain

Spot (delayed)$72.03
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$50-30.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$19.1±26.5% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.376K puts / 15K calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV30111.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$912Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $50

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$60-16.7%4d
Fri, Sep 18$50-30.6%32d
Fri, Oct 16$80+11.1%60d
Fri, Nov 20$75+4.1%95d
Fri, Jan 15$50-30.6%151d
Fri, Feb 19$60-16.7%186d
Fri, Mar 19$60-16.7%214d
Thu, Jun 17$50-30.6%304d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot5023456890113135$102M$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 — 50 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot5022.54060801001203K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SHAZ open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 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, Sep 18

spot5022.54060801001201K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot23456890113135143%102%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 107.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 5022.5406080100120+$221K$221K
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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.01350.00170.01-0.01-0.02
0.96-0.02400.00320.02-0.03-0.04
0.93-0.04450.00520.03-0.04-0.07
0.89-0.06500.00770.04-0.07-0.11
0.83-0.08550.01030.06-0.09-0.17
0.76-0.10600.01260.07-0.11-0.24
0.68-0.12650.01440.08-0.12-0.32
0.60-0.13700.01540.09-0.13-0.40
0.52-0.14750.01580.09-0.14-0.47
0.45-0.14800.01550.09-0.14-0.55
0.39-0.13850.01490.09-0.13-0.61
0.33-0.13900.01390.08-0.12-0.67
0.28-0.12950.01280.08-0.11-0.72
0.24-0.111000.01170.07-0.10-0.76
0.20-0.101050.01050.06-0.09-0.80

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 24 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3050709011013011K0
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

spot22.545709512014511K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 60K call contracts, 20K 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: SHAZ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk