Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 5:16 AM ET

STVN max pain

Spot (delayed)$21.25
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$20-5.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.95±32.7% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.052 puts / 40 calls
Call wall$35largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3047.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$512per 1% move · flip ≈ $20

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$20-5.9%8d
Fri, Sep 18$12.5-41.2%36d
Fri, Dec 18$20-5.9%127d
Fri, Mar 19$20-5.9%218d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot20101622283440$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot201022.530401616
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)STVN open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

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, Mar 19

spot201022.5304011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot10162228344098%49%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 55.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 201022.53040+$205$205
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.91-0.01100.00970.03-0.01-0.09
0.64-0.01200.04180.06-0.01-0.35
0.52-0.0122.50.04870.07-0.01-0.47
0.41-0.01250.04730.06-0.01-0.58
0.29-0.01300.03640.06-0.01-0.71
0.23-0.01350.02840.05-0.01-0.78
0.20-0.01400.02330.04-0.01-0.82

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

spot7.512.517.522.530840
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

spot2.51017.525408484
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 401 call contracts, 66 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: STVN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk