Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 12, 11:21 AM ET

SVM max pain

Spot (delayed)$12.85
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$12.5-2.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.28±17.7% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.641K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$12.5largest put OI
IV3068.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$12Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $15

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$10-22.2%9d
Fri, Sep 18$12.5-2.7%37d
Fri, Oct 16$10-22.2%65d
Fri, Jan 15$7.5-41.6%156d
Fri, Jan 21$7.5-41.6%527d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12.581012141618$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 — 12.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot12.57.51012.51517.5932932
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SVM 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

spot12.57.51012.51517.5189189
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot81012141618114%61%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 70.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 157.51012.51517.5+$17K$17K
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
0.96-0.007.50.02160.00-0.01-0.04
0.85-0.01100.07220.01-0.01-0.15
0.56-0.0112.50.13940.02-0.01-0.43
0.26-0.01150.11280.01-0.01-0.74
0.11-0.0117.50.06140.01-0.01-0.89

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

spot2.57.512.517.522.53K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.513K13K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 41K call contracts, 14K 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: SVM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk