Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 5, 2:18 AM ET

TALO max pain

Spot (delayed)$14.89
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$12.5-16.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.15±14.4% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.0634 puts / 560 calls
Call wall$17.5largest call OI
Put wall$12.5largest put OI
IV3055.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$17Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $12.5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$12.5-16.1%15d
Fri, Sep 18$12.5-16.1%43d
Fri, Oct 16$12.5-16.1%71d
Fri, Jan 15$12.5-16.1%162d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12.53712162125$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, Aug 21

spot12.52.5512.51517.525283283
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TALO 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

spot12.52.5512.51517.52577
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot131518202325119%67%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 82.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 12.52.5512.51517.525+$12K$12K
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
0.99-0.002.50.00140.00-0.01-0.01
0.99-0.0150.00440.00-0.01-0.01
0.82-0.0212.50.11260.01-0.02-0.18
0.38-0.02150.21820.01-0.02-0.63
0.13-0.0117.50.08890.01-0.01-0.88
0.02-0.01250.01480.00-0.01-0.98

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

spot2.57.512.517.522.51K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5301K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 917 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: TALO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk