Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 3:32 PM ET

STEP max pain

Spot (delayed)$48.26
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$45-6.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.58±7.4% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI1.00263 puts / 263 calls
Call wall$50largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3055.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$55Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $45

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$45-6.8%3d
Fri, Sep 18$40-17.1%31d
Fri, Dec 18$45-6.8%122d
Fri, Mar 19$55+14.0%213d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot45233038455360$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 — 45 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot4522.5304050179179
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)STEP 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

spot4522.530405011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot354045505560240%50%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 62.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 4522.5304050+$48K$48K
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
1.00-0.0022.50.00030.00-0.00-0.00
1.00-0.00250.00050.00-0.01-0.00
0.99-0.01300.00150.00-0.01-0.01
0.99-0.02350.00440.00-0.02-0.01
0.96-0.05400.01530.00-0.05-0.04
0.84-0.13450.06680.01-0.13-0.15
0.31-0.17500.11800.02-0.17-0.69
0.03-0.04600.01260.00-0.04-0.97

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

spot22.5355065805K0
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

spot22.54060801005K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K call contracts, 3K 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: STEP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk