Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 10, 6:24 PM ET

SSTK max pain

Spot (delayed)$5.88
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$5-14.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.9±32.3% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.4260 puts / 144 calls
Call wall$7.5largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV3079.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$503per 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

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$7.5+27.7%5d
Fri, Sep 18$5-14.9%33d
Fri, Nov 20$7.5+27.7%96d
Fri, Feb 19$5-14.9%187d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot5358101315$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot52.557.51012.515128128
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SSTK 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

spot52.557.51012.51522
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot358101315306%91%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 91.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 7.52.557.51012.515+$748$748
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
0.98-0.002.50.02270.00-0.00-0.03
0.81-0.0150.19190.01-0.01-0.21
0.34-0.017.50.17070.01-0.01-0.69
0.22-0.01100.10120.01-0.01-0.81
0.17-0.0112.50.07290.01-0.01-0.86
0.14-0.01150.05750.00-0.01-0.89

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

spot2.51017.52532.54K0
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

spot2.51017.52532.54K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 8K 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: SSTK workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk