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

SHAZ max pain

Spot (delayed)$72.03
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$60-16.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$41.7±57.9% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.0677 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$145largest call OI
Put wall$60largest put OI
IV30111.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$40Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $65

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

spot6030537699122145$3M$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 — 60 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot60305075100130393393
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SHAZ open contracts per strike for Fri, Feb 19.

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, Feb 19

spot6030507510013055
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot30537699122145111%105%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 106.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 65305075100130+$12K$12K
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, Feb 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.93-0.02300.00270.06-0.02-0.07
0.90-0.02350.00340.08-0.02-0.09
0.86-0.03400.00400.10-0.03-0.13
0.82-0.03450.00460.12-0.03-0.16
0.79-0.04500.00520.14-0.04-0.19
0.71-0.05600.00600.17-0.04-0.26
0.68-0.05650.00640.18-0.05-0.30
0.64-0.05700.00660.18-0.05-0.33
0.61-0.05750.00680.19-0.05-0.36
0.58-0.05800.00700.20-0.05-0.40
0.52-0.06900.00710.20-0.05-0.46
0.49-0.06950.00710.20-0.05-0.48
0.47-0.061000.00700.20-0.05-0.51
0.42-0.061100.00690.20-0.05-0.56
0.38-0.051200.00670.19-0.05-0.60

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 20 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