Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 11:08 PM ET

SMRT max pain

Spot (delayed)$1.48
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$0.5-66.2% vs spot
Put/Call OI0.025 puts / 226 calls
Call wall$1largest call OI
Put wall$0.5largest put OI
IV30143.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$190per 1% move · flip ≈ $1

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Sep 18$0.5-66.2%32d
Fri, Dec 18$0.5-66.2%123d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot0.5111122$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 — 0.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot0.50.511.52169169
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SMRT open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 18.

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, Sep 18

spot0.50.511.5211
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 10.511.52+$116$116
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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.000.50.06720.00-0.00-0.03
0.85-0.0010.31350.00-0.00-0.15
0.57-0.001.50.62730.00-0.00-0.43
0.30-0.0020.57580.00-0.00-0.70

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

spot0.511.521690
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

spot0.511.52169169
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 247 call contracts, 15 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: SMRT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk