Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 4:42 AM ET

TFII max pain

Spot (delayed)$147.14
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$120-18.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$13.3±9.0% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.196 puts / 32 calls
Call wall$160largest call OI
Put wall$110largest put OI
IV3034.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$11Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $120

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$145-1.5%7d
Fri, Sep 18$120-18.4%35d
Fri, Oct 16$110-25.2%63d
Fri, Jan 15$140-4.9%154d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot120110124138152166180$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

spot1201101251451651801010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TFII 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

spot12011012514516518011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot11012413815216618070%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 120110125145165180+$4K$4K
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
0.95-0.031100.00380.05-0.04-0.05
0.93-0.041150.00510.06-0.04-0.07
0.91-0.041200.00680.07-0.05-0.09
0.88-0.051250.00920.09-0.06-0.12
0.83-0.061300.01230.12-0.07-0.17
0.68-0.081400.02040.16-0.08-0.31
0.57-0.091450.02390.18-0.09-0.42
0.45-0.091500.02510.18-0.08-0.55
0.24-0.071600.01930.14-0.07-0.76
0.17-0.061650.01520.12-0.05-0.83
0.13-0.051700.01170.10-0.04-0.88
0.09-0.041750.00900.08-0.03-0.91
0.07-0.041800.00700.06-0.03-0.93

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

spot951201401601802002710
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

spot5080110140170200272272
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 607 call contracts, 416 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: TFII workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk