Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 1:37 AM ET

SMPL max pain

Spot (delayed)$11
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$12.5+13.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.3±11.8% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.19574 puts / 3K calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$12.5largest put OI
IV3056.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$8Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $10

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$12.5+13.6%8d
Fri, Sep 18$10-9.1%36d
Fri, Nov 20$12.5+13.6%99d
Fri, Feb 19$7.5-31.8%190d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12.53916222935$3M$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 — 12.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot12.52.57.512.517.522.5301K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SMPL 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

spot12.52.57.512.517.522.53033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot101315182023215%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 56.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 101012.51517.5+$5K$5K
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
1.002.5
1.005
1.007.50.0002
0.93-0.01100.15570.00-0.01-0.07
0.10-0.0112.50.18840.00-0.01-0.91
0.000.00150.00440.00-0.01-1.00
17.50.0001-0.01-1.00
20-0.01-1.00
22.5-0.01-1.00
25-0.01-1.00
30-0.01-1.00

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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5301K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5302K2K
■ 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: SMPL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk