Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 9:32 PM ET

TAGS max pain

Spot (delayed)$26.37
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$24-9.0% vs spot
Put/Call OI0.0112 puts / 804 calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3019.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$68Kper 1% move

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$24-9.0%3d
Fri, Sep 18$26-1.4%31d
Fri, Nov 20$24-9.0%94d
Fri, Feb 19$25-5.2%185d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot24232425262728$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 — 24 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot24232425262728521521
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TAGS open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 21.

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, Aug 21

spot2423242526272855
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot252626272728115%18%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 54.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot2425262728+$32K$32K
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, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.00-0.00230.00120.000.00
1.00-0.00240.00010.000.00-0.00
0.99-0.00250.04670.00-0.00-0.02
0.78-0.02260.62830.01-0.02-0.23
0.12-0.01270.37260.01-0.01-0.88
0.01-0.00280.04030.00-0.00-0.99

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

spot21232527291K0
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

spot15192327311K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 51 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: TAGS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk