Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 4:44 AM ET

SKIN max pain

Spot (delayed)$0.67
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$1+49.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.21±31.5% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.682K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$1largest call OI
Put wall$1largest put OI
IV3080.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$153per 1% move

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$1+49.9%5d
Fri, Sep 18$0.5-25.0%33d
Fri, Nov 20$1+49.9%96d
Fri, Feb 19$0.5-25.0%187d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1112345$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 — 1 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot10.51.5352K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SKIN open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 21.

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, Aug 21

spot10.51.53511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot111122638%263%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 273.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot0.511.52+$124$124
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, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.000.50.83860.00-0.00-0.05
0.07-0.0010.80770.00-0.00-0.93
0.010.001.50.14060.00-0.99
0.000.0020.04730.00-1.00
0.0030.0119-1.00
0.0040.0049-1.00
0.0050.0025-1.00

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

spot0.51.5353K0
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

spot0.51.5353K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K 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: SKIN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk