Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 19, 7:08 AM ET

SIGA max pain

Spot (delayed)$2.99
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$4.4+47.2% vs spot
Put/Call OI0.03115 puts / 4K calls
Call wall$10.4largest call OI
Put wall$4.4largest put OI
IV3072.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$483per 1% move · flip ≈ $3.4

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$4+33.8%2d
Fri, Sep 18$4.4+47.2%30d
Fri, Dec 18$4+33.8%121d
Fri, Jan 15$3.8+27.1%149d
Fri, Mar 19$3+0.3%212d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot4.403581012$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 — 4.4 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot4.40.42.44.46.48.410.42K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SIGA open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 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, Sep 18

spot4.40.42.44.46.48.410.411
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot14681012531%86%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 135.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 3.42.44.46.48.410.4+$230$230
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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.000.000.40.00460.00-0.00-0.00
0.98-0.001.40.04550.00-0.00-0.03
0.85-0.002.40.31880.00-0.00-0.16
0.33-0.003.40.54020.00-0.00-0.68
0.11-0.004.40.22210.00-0.00-0.90
0.05-0.005.40.10040.00-0.00-0.97
0.02-0.006.40.05220.00-0.00-0.99
0.01-0.007.40.03000.000.00-1.00
0.010.008.40.01850.000.00-1.00
0.010.009.40.01200.000.00-1.00
0.000.0010.40.00810.000.00-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 12 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot0.42.44.4689.42K0
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

spot0.42.44.46.48.811.42K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 883 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: SIGA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk