Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 16, 11:37 PM ET

SIFY max pain

Spot (delayed)$15.57
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$7.5-51.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.15±45.9% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.0442 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3086.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$8Kper 1% move

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$12.5-19.7%4d
Fri, Sep 18$15-3.7%32d
Fri, Oct 16$7.5-51.8%60d
Fri, Jan 15$7.5-51.8%151d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7.53814192530$2M$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 — 7.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot7.52.510152025445445
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SIFY 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

spot7.52.51015202511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot3814192530210%77%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 93.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot2.510152025+$3K$3K
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
0.99-0.002.50.00300.00-0.00-0.01
0.91-0.017.50.01490.01-0.01-0.09
0.83-0.01100.02470.02-0.01-0.15
0.74-0.0112.50.03570.03-0.01-0.25
0.62-0.01150.04460.04-0.01-0.36
0.50-0.0117.50.04870.04-0.01-0.48
0.40-0.01200.04780.04-0.01-0.58
0.32-0.0122.50.04390.04-0.01-0.67
0.25-0.01250.03890.03-0.01-0.73
0.17-0.01300.02950.03-0.01-0.82

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

spot7.512.517.522.5301540
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.530545545
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 212 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: SIFY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk