Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 12:34 AM ET

SXT max pain

Spot (delayed)$133.47
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$120-10.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.75±8.1% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.2612 puts / 46 calls
Call wall$130largest call OI
Put wall$120largest put OI
IV3031.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$18Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $115

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$100-25.1%3d
Fri, Sep 18$120-10.1%31d
Fri, Oct 16$100-25.1%59d
Fri, Jan 15$95-28.8%150d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot120105114123132141150$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 — 120 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot1201051201301401919
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SXT 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

spot120105120130140135135
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot10511412313214115063%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 32.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 115105120130140+$9K$9K
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
0.92-0.061050.00650.06-0.05-0.08
0.86-0.061150.01170.09-0.06-0.14
0.81-0.071200.01600.11-0.07-0.19
0.73-0.071250.02180.14-0.07-0.27
0.61-0.081300.02790.16-0.07-0.39
0.46-0.071350.03080.16-0.07-0.53
0.32-0.071400.02760.15-0.07-0.67
0.15-0.051500.01610.10-0.05-0.84

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

spot501051251451651853070
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

spot5075100125150175310310
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 894 call contracts, 189 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: SXT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk