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

TIGR max pain

Spot (delayed)$4.76
Max pain · Fri, Sep 25$1-79.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.8±16.9% by Fri, Sep 25
Put/Call OI0.75215 puts / 288 calls
Call wall$0.5largest call OI
Put wall$4.5largest put OI
IV3059.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$1Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $4

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$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

spot1123568$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 — 1 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot10.51.54.56.5205205
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TIGR open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 25.

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 25

spot10.51.54.56.53737
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot455678154%61%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 62.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spotflip 40.51.54.56.5+$2K$2K
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 25

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.000.50.00400.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.0010.00900.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.001.50.01570.00-0.00-0.02
0.82-0.0040.22820.00-0.00-0.18
0.68-0.004.50.36350.01-0.00-0.32
0.47-0.0150.42090.01-0.01-0.53
0.11-0.006.50.17780.00-0.00-0.89
0.05-0.007.50.08310.00-0.00-0.96

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

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