Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 1:05 PM ET

SQM max pain

Spot (delayed)$72.16
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$40-44.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$34.75±48.2% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI1.76968 puts / 549 calls
Call wall$22.5largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3050.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$6Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $40

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 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$70-3.0%6d
Fri, Sep 18$65-9.9%34d
Fri, Oct 16$65-9.9%62d
Fri, Jan 15$70-3.0%153d
Fri, Jan 21$40-44.6%524d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot4023467093117140$5M$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot4022.547.562.577.592.5120844844
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SQM open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 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, Jan 21

spot4022.547.562.577.592.5120800800
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot2346709311714066%50%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 52.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spotflip 4022.547.562.577.592.5120+$16K$16K
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, Jan 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.78-0.01550.00600.24-0.01-0.21
0.76-0.0157.50.00640.26-0.01-0.23
0.74-0.01600.00670.27-0.01-0.25
0.72-0.0162.50.00700.28-0.01-0.27
0.70-0.01650.00730.29-0.01-0.29
0.68-0.0167.50.00750.30-0.01-0.32
0.66-0.01700.00780.31-0.01-0.34
0.64-0.0172.50.00800.32-0.01-0.36
0.62-0.01750.00810.32-0.01-0.38
0.60-0.0177.50.00830.33-0.01-0.40
0.58-0.01800.00840.33-0.01-0.42
0.56-0.0182.50.00850.33-0.01-0.45
0.54-0.01850.00860.34-0.01-0.47
0.53-0.0187.50.00860.34-0.01-0.49
0.51-0.01900.00860.34-0.01-0.51

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 34 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot356072.58597.51201K0
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

spot22.54057.57592.51202K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 8K call contracts, 9K 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: SQM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk