Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 11:16 AM ET

TIGR max pain

Spot (delayed)$4.76
Max pain · Fri, Sep 4$4.5-5.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.56±11.8% by Fri, Sep 4
Put/Call OI0.73883 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$5largest call OI
Put wall$4.5largest put OI
IV3059.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $3.5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$5+5.0%3d
Fri, Aug 28$1-79.0%10d
Fri, Sep 4$4.5-5.5%17d
Fri, Sep 11$4.5-5.5%24d
Fri, Sep 18$5+5.0%31d
Fri, Sep 25$1-79.0%38d
Fri, Oct 2$0.5-89.5%45d
Fri, Oct 16$6+26.1%59d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot4.5124679$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 — 4.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot4.50.5245.57687687
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TIGR open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 4.

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 4

spot4.50.5245.57215215
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot456789164%52%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 62.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spotflip 3.50.5245.57+$8K$8K
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 4

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.0110.00920.00-0.01-0.02
0.98-0.011.50.01620.00-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.0120.02670.00-0.01-0.03
0.94-0.0130.07190.00-0.01-0.06
0.91-0.013.50.12570.00-0.01-0.09
0.85-0.0140.23670.00-0.01-0.15
0.71-0.014.50.45940.00-0.01-0.29
0.43-0.0150.59470.00-0.01-0.57
0.22-0.015.50.40470.00-0.01-0.78
0.12-0.0160.24360.00-0.00-0.88
0.07-0.006.50.15150.00-0.00-0.93
0.05-0.0070.09840.00-0.00-0.95
0.01-0.0090.02370.000.00-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot0.523.556.5813K0
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

spot0.535.58121727K27K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 103K call contracts, 54K 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: TIGR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk