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

SHAZ max pain

Spot (delayed)$72.03
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$50-30.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$37.85±52.5% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.06520 puts / 9K calls
Call wall$90largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV30111.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$295Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $30

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$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

spot5023477296121145$53M$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, Jan 15

spot5022.54570951201453K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SHAZ 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

spot5022.54570951201451K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot23477296121145133%105%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 106.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 3022.5457095120145+$119K$119K
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
0.91-0.02350.00340.07-0.03-0.09
0.87-0.03400.00420.09-0.03-0.12
0.83-0.04450.00490.11-0.04-0.15
0.79-0.04500.00560.13-0.04-0.19
0.75-0.05550.00620.14-0.05-0.23
0.71-0.05600.00660.15-0.05-0.27
0.67-0.06650.00700.16-0.06-0.31
0.64-0.06700.00730.17-0.06-0.34
0.60-0.06750.00750.18-0.06-0.38
0.56-0.06800.00760.18-0.06-0.41
0.53-0.06850.00770.18-0.06-0.45
0.50-0.06900.00770.18-0.06-0.48
0.47-0.06950.00770.18-0.06-0.51
0.44-0.061000.00760.18-0.06-0.54
0.42-0.061050.00750.18-0.06-0.56

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 26 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