Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 11:36 PM ET

SSTI max pain

Spot (delayed)$6.19
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$7.5+21.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.35±21.7% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.28230 puts / 808 calls
Call wall$7.5largest call OI
Put wall$7.5largest put OI
IV3081.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $5

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$7.5+21.2%3d
Fri, Sep 18$10+61.6%31d
Fri, Oct 16$5-19.2%59d
Fri, Jan 15$5-19.2%150d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7.535791113$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 — 7.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot7.52.557.51012.5418418
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SSTI 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

spot7.52.557.51012.52121
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot35791113461%82%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 146.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 52.557.51012.5+$2K$2K
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
0.99-0.012.50.01350.00-0.01-0.02
0.89-0.0250.16130.00-0.02-0.12
0.21-0.037.50.22340.00-0.03-0.79
0.10-0.02100.08460.00-0.02-0.91
0.06-0.0212.50.04910.00-0.02-0.94

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

spot2.557.51012.54350
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

spot2.57.512.517.5436436
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 959 call contracts, 237 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: SSTI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk