Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 12, 4:20 AM ET

SOBO max pain

Spot (delayed)$36.3
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$30-17.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.41±6.6% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.11720 puts / 6K calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV3022.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$679Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $30

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$30-17.4%7d
Fri, Sep 18$35-3.6%35d
Fri, Nov 20$35-3.6%98d
Fri, Feb 19$35-3.6%189d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot30152025303540$2M$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 — 30 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot301522.5253035404K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SOBO 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

spot301522.52530354011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 301522.525303540+$444K$444K
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
1.00-0.02150.00080.00-0.01-0.01
0.99-0.0222.50.00540.00-0.02-0.02
0.98-0.02250.00980.00-0.02-0.03
0.95-0.03300.03150.01-0.03-0.07
0.74-0.04350.17260.02-0.04-0.28
0.05-0.01400.04690.01-0.01-0.94

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

spot253035404K0
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

spot1520253545554K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K call contracts, 1K 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: SOBO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk