Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 2:24 PM ET

SKE max pain

Spot (delayed)$33.79
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$30-11.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.03±20.8% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.20353 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$37.5largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3059.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$80Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $15

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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$30-11.2%5d
Fri, Sep 18$27.5-18.6%33d
Fri, Oct 16$30-11.2%61d
Fri, Jan 15$27.5-18.6%152d
Fri, Dec 17$35+3.6%488d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot30132028354350$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 — 30 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot3012.52027.53542.51K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SKE 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

spot3012.52027.53542.599
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot152229364350131%41%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 61.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 1512.52027.53542.5+$54K$54K
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
0.97-0.0117.50.00530.01-0.01-0.03
0.95-0.01200.00810.01-0.01-0.04
0.93-0.0122.50.01270.02-0.01-0.07
0.89-0.01250.01960.03-0.01-0.11
0.83-0.0227.50.02940.04-0.02-0.17
0.73-0.02300.04000.05-0.02-0.26
0.62-0.0232.50.04730.05-0.02-0.38
0.50-0.03350.04860.06-0.03-0.50
0.39-0.0337.50.04530.05-0.03-0.61
0.31-0.02400.03990.05-0.03-0.69
0.24-0.0242.50.03420.04-0.02-0.76
0.19-0.02450.02890.04-0.02-0.81
0.13-0.02500.02040.03-0.02-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 15 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot12.52532.540502K0
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

spot12.52027.53542.5502K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K call contracts, 4K 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: SKE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk