Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 11:39 PM ET

SYRE max pain

Spot (delayed)$107.82
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$75-30.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$37.2±34.5% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.4930 puts / 61 calls
Call wall$75largest call OI
Put wall$80largest put OI
IV3096.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $60

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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$100-7.3%3d
Fri, Sep 18$105-2.6%31d
Fri, Nov 20$75-30.4%94d
Fri, Dec 18$70-35.1%122d
Fri, Jan 15$40-62.9%150d
Fri, Mar 19$80-25.8%213d
Fri, Dec 17$100-7.3%486d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot75506988107126145$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 — 75 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot755070851001352222
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SYRE open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot7550708510013533
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot506988107126145126%84%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 85.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 60557590105145+$893$893
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.85-0.05750.00480.13-0.06-0.15
0.82-0.06800.00550.14-0.07-0.18
0.78-0.07850.00630.16-0.07-0.22
0.74-0.07900.00690.18-0.08-0.26
0.70-0.08950.00750.19-0.08-0.30
0.66-0.091000.00800.20-0.09-0.34
0.61-0.091050.00830.21-0.09-0.39
0.57-0.091100.00850.21-0.09-0.43
0.38-0.091350.00830.21-0.09-0.62
0.32-0.091450.00770.20-0.08-0.68

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot17.54065901151402K0
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

spot17.53560851101352K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 5K 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: SYRE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk