Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 12, 11:49 PM ET

SII max pain

Spot (delayed)$117.74
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$120+1.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$34.55±29.3% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.3075 puts / 249 calls
Call wall$240largest call OI
Put wall$195largest put OI
IV3043.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$14Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $120

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$110-6.6%7d
Fri, Sep 18$115-2.3%35d
Fri, Nov 20$130+10.4%98d
Fri, Jan 15$110-6.6%154d
Fri, Feb 19$130+10.4%189d
Fri, Mar 19$120+1.9%217d
Fri, Jan 21$100-15.1%525d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1205594133172211250$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 — 120 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot1205590125155185250100100
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SII open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 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, Mar 19

spot120559012515518525033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot559413317221125070%46%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 48.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 1205590125155185250+$4K$4K
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.91-0.01750.00340.15-0.02-0.09
0.86-0.02850.00490.20-0.02-0.15
0.82-0.02900.00580.23-0.03-0.18
0.75-0.031000.00730.29-0.03-0.26
0.71-0.031050.00800.31-0.03-0.30
0.66-0.031100.00860.33-0.04-0.35
0.61-0.041150.00900.34-0.04-0.39
0.57-0.041200.00930.35-0.04-0.44
0.53-0.041250.00940.36-0.04-0.49
0.48-0.041300.00940.36-0.04-0.53
0.44-0.041350.00940.35-0.04-0.57
0.40-0.041400.00910.35-0.04-0.61
0.37-0.041450.00890.34-0.03-0.65
0.33-0.031500.00850.33-0.03-0.69
0.30-0.031550.00810.31-0.03-0.72

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 31 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot501001301601902409340
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

spot5080110140170200975975
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K call contracts, 2K 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: SII workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk