Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 9:28 PM ET

STLA max pain

Spot (delayed)$5.37
Max pain · Fri, Sep 11$4.5-16.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.5±9.3% by Fri, Sep 11
Put/Call OI0.58607 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$1.5largest call OI
Put wall$5.5largest put OI
IV3038.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $4.5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$5.5+2.4%5d
Fri, Aug 28$2.5-53.4%12d
Fri, Sep 4$3-44.1%19d
Fri, Sep 11$4.5-16.2%26d
Fri, Sep 18$7+30.4%33d
Fri, Sep 25$3.5-34.8%40d
Fri, Oct 2$6+11.7%47d
Fri, Dec 18$6+11.7%124d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot4.52357911$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 — 4.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spot4.51.534.567.510.5319319
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)STLA open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 11.

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 11

spot4.51.534.567.510.53030
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spot445678162%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 40.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spotflip 4.51.534.567.510.5+$1K$1K
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 11

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.0020.01510.00-0.00-0.02
0.98-0.002.50.02580.00-0.00-0.03
0.96-0.0030.04310.00-0.00-0.04
0.94-0.003.50.07250.00-0.00-0.06
0.91-0.0040.12560.00-0.00-0.09
0.86-0.004.50.23130.00-0.00-0.15
0.73-0.0050.46560.01-0.00-0.27
0.44-0.005.50.69150.01-0.00-0.57
0.24-0.0060.41950.01-0.00-0.78
0.16-0.006.50.26150.00-0.00-0.86
0.12-0.0070.18330.00-0.00-0.90
0.10-0.007.50.13900.00-0.00-0.92
0.07-0.0090.07870.00-0.00-0.95
0.06-0.00100.06090.00-0.00-0.96
0.05-0.0010.50.05470.00-0.00-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot12.545.5793K0
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

spot14710142264K64K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 260K call contracts, 110K 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: STLA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk