Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 2:26 PM ET

TGB max pain

Spot (delayed)$8.41
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$4.5-46.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.05±83.8% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.365K puts / 13K calls
Call wall$7largest call OI
Put wall$7largest put OI
IV3066.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$22Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $3.5

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 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$7-16.8%3d
Fri, Sep 18$7-16.8%31d
Fri, Oct 16$7-16.8%59d
Fri, Nov 20$7-16.8%94d
Fri, Jan 15$4.5-46.5%150d
Fri, Feb 19$6-28.7%185d
Fri, Jan 21$4.5-46.5%521d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot4.5147101417$13M$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 — 4.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot4.50.523.5510172K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TGB open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 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, Jan 21

spot4.50.523.5510173030
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot147101417176%51%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 103.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spotflip 3.50.523.551017+$6K$6K
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, Jan 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.940.002.50.00980.01-0.00-0.05
0.930.0030.01290.01-0.00-0.06
0.92-0.003.50.01650.01-0.00-0.08
0.90-0.0040.02050.02-0.00-0.10
0.88-0.004.50.02480.02-0.00-0.12
0.86-0.0050.02940.02-0.00-0.14
0.84-0.005.50.03410.02-0.00-0.16
0.76-0.0070.04650.03-0.00-0.25
0.59-0.00100.05860.04-0.00-0.42
0.51-0.00120.05960.04-0.00-0.52
0.41-0.00150.05660.04-0.00-0.64
0.35-0.00170.05350.04-0.00-0.71

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot14710131611K0
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

spot0.52.54.57111518K18K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 92K call contracts, 15K 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: TGB workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk