Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 2:36 PM ET

SKM max pain

Spot (delayed)$39.18
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$35-10.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.33±5.9% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.5510K puts / 18K calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV3060.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2.0Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $35

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$35-10.7%4d
Fri, Sep 18$30-23.4%32d
Fri, Dec 18$35-10.7%123d
Fri, Jan 15$30-23.4%151d
Fri, Mar 19$30-23.4%214d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot35202734414855$32M$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot3520253545558K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SKM 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

spot3520253545551212
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot232936424955228%61%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 65.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 352025354555+$1.7M$1.7M
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
1.00-0.00200.00050.00-0.00-0.00
1.00-0.0022.50.00090.00-0.00-0.00
1.00-0.01250.00170.00-0.01-0.00
0.99-0.01300.00680.00-0.01-0.01
0.93-0.05350.04430.01-0.05-0.07
0.41-0.14400.13100.02-0.14-0.59
0.11-0.09450.04480.01-0.09-0.89
0.04-0.05500.01710.00-0.05-0.96
0.02-0.03550.00780.00-0.03-0.98

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

spot12.52030456017K0
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

spot12.52030456023K23K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 113K call contracts, 41K 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: SKM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk