Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 11:06 PM ET

SNY max pain

Spot (delayed)$43.78
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$45+2.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.58±5.9% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI1.046K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$45largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3021.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$65Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $32.5

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, Aug 21$45+2.8%6d
Fri, Sep 18$45+2.8%34d
Fri, Dec 18$45+2.8%125d
Fri, Jan 15$45+2.8%153d
Fri, Mar 19$45+2.8%216d
Thu, Jun 17$47.5+8.5%306d
Fri, Dec 17$37.5-14.3%489d
Fri, Jan 21$55+25.6%524d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot45283441475460$9M$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 — 45 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot4527.53542.550602K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SNY 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

spot4527.53542.55060125125
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot28344147546072%22%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 21.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 32.527.53542.55060+$217K$217K
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
1.0027.50.00100.00-0.00-0.00
1.00300.00200.00-0.00-0.00
0.9932.50.00410.00-0.00-0.01
0.980.00350.00920.01-0.00-0.02
0.96-0.0037.50.02170.01-0.01-0.04
0.89-0.01400.05320.03-0.01-0.11
0.71-0.0142.50.11380.05-0.01-0.30
0.39-0.01450.12930.05-0.02-0.63
0.17-0.0147.50.07560.04-0.01-0.86
0.08-0.01500.03780.02-0.01-0.96
0.04-0.0152.50.01970.01-0.01-1.00
0.02-0.00550.01090.01-0.01-1.00
0.01-0.00600.00400.00-0.02-1.00

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

spot2532.54047.555659K0
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

spot22.532.542.552.562.57512K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 49K call contracts, 47K 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: SNY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk