Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 16, 5:21 AM ET

SSL max pain

Spot (delayed)$11.53
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$10-13.3% vs spot
Put/Call OI0.0370 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$12.5largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3064.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$78Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$10-13.3%5d
Fri, Sep 18$7.5-35.0%33d
Fri, Dec 18$5-56.6%124d
Fri, Mar 19$10-13.3%215d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot10579111315$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 — 10 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot1057.51012.5152K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SSL 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

spot1057.51012.5152020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 7.557.51012.515+$77K$77K
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
0.98-0.0150.00840.00-0.01-0.02
0.95-0.027.50.03050.00-0.02-0.05
0.84-0.03100.13830.00-0.03-0.16
0.19-0.0212.50.26520.00-0.02-0.81
0.04-0.01150.05110.00-0.01-0.96

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

spot2.57.512.517.522.57K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.57K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 17K call contracts, 418 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: SSL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk