Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 9:10 AM ET

SHG max pain

Spot (delayed)$74.82
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$70-6.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$13.4±17.9% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.1864 puts / 364 calls
Call wall$80largest call OI
Put wall$60largest put OI
IV3040.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$44Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $40

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$75+0.2%7d
Fri, Sep 18$55-26.5%35d
Fri, Dec 18$70-6.4%126d
Fri, Mar 19$40-46.5%217d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot703548617487100$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 — 70 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot7035557085100341341
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SHG open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 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, Dec 18

spot703555708510033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot354861748710074%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 40354560708095+$46K$46K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.00350.00190.02-0.01-0.03
0.96-0.00400.00280.03-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.01450.00420.05-0.01-0.06
0.88-0.01550.00890.09-0.02-0.12
0.83-0.02600.01250.11-0.02-0.17
0.76-0.02650.01690.13-0.02-0.25
0.66-0.02700.02120.16-0.02-0.34
0.54-0.03750.02400.17-0.03-0.46
0.42-0.02800.02430.17-0.02-0.58
0.32-0.02850.02210.16-0.02-0.68
0.23-0.02900.01870.13-0.02-0.77
0.17-0.02950.01520.11-0.01-0.83
0.13-0.011000.01210.09-0.01-0.87

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

spot40607080901005470
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

spot3045607590105547547
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 127 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: SHG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk