Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 6:58 AM ET

SMPL max pain

Spot (delayed)$11
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$12.5+13.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.13±28.4% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.941K puts / 571 calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3057.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$8Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

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

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$12.5+13.6%7d
Fri, Sep 18$10-9.1%35d
Fri, Nov 20$12.5+13.6%98d
Fri, Feb 19$7.5-31.8%189d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12.53814192530$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 — 12.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot12.52.57.512.517.530844844
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SMPL open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot12.52.57.512.517.53011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot3814192530253%52%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 67.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 7.55101520+$10K$10K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.002.50.00300.00-0.00-0.01
0.97-0.0050.01300.00-0.00-0.03
0.91-0.007.50.04230.01-0.00-0.10
0.72-0.01100.10370.02-0.01-0.29
0.43-0.0112.50.11910.02-0.01-0.59
0.26-0.01150.08620.02-0.01-0.78
0.17-0.0117.50.06010.01-0.00-0.87
0.12-0.00200.04360.01-0.00-0.92
0.05-0.00300.01720.01-0.00-1.00

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

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