Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 1, 1:40 PM ET

SHMD max pain

Spot (delayed)$4.05
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$5+23.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.83±119.1% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.69115 puts / 166 calls
Call wall$7.5largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV30115.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$10per 1% move · flip ≈ $10

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · 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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$5+23.5%19d
Fri, Sep 18$5+23.5%47d
Fri, Oct 16$5+23.5%75d
Fri, Jan 15$2.5-38.3%166d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot53467910$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot52.557.510110110
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SHMD open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 16.

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, Oct 16

spot52.557.51011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot3467910225%124%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 202.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 102.557.510+$300$300
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, Oct 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.89-0.002.50.08040.00-0.00-0.13
0.52-0.0150.16420.01-0.01-0.51
0.31-0.017.50.12810.01-0.01-0.72
0.22-0.01100.09730.01-0.01-0.81

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

spot2.557.5101400
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

spot2.557.51012.5523523
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 448 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: SHMD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk