Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 28, 11:44 PM ET

TBBB max pain

Spot (delayed)$48.99
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$40-18.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.05±14.4% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.39156 puts / 405 calls
Call wall$45largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3029.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$19Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $35

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, Sep 18$45-8.1%21d
Fri, Oct 16$50+2.1%49d
Fri, Nov 20$40-18.4%84d
Fri, Dec 18$40-18.4%112d
Fri, Feb 19$40-18.4%175d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot40253443526170$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot4025354555268268
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TBBB 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

spot402535455511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot25344352617074%36%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 3525354555+$19K$19K
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
0.99-0.00250.00200.01-0.00-0.01
0.97-0.01300.00450.01-0.01-0.03
0.94-0.01350.00990.03-0.01-0.06
0.87-0.01400.02060.05-0.01-0.13
0.73-0.02450.03600.08-0.02-0.28
0.52-0.02500.04620.09-0.02-0.49
0.30-0.02550.04130.08-0.02-0.72
0.03-0.00700.00840.02-1.00

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

spot354555704630
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

spot17.525405570544544
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 1K 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: TBBB workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk