Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 1:41 AM ET

TMC max pain

Spot (delayed)$3.78
Max pain · Fri, Sep 11$4+5.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.78±20.8% by Fri, Sep 11
Put/Call OI0.45701 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$4.5largest call OI
Put wall$4largest put OI
IV3087.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $3.5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$4.5+19.0%4d
Fri, Aug 28$1-73.5%11d
Fri, Sep 4$3.5-7.4%18d
Fri, Sep 11$4+5.8%25d
Fri, Sep 18$4+5.8%32d
Fri, Sep 25$0.5-86.8%39d
Fri, Oct 2$0.5-86.8%46d
Fri, Nov 20$4+5.8%95d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot4124578$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 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spot40.52.545.58461461
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TMC open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 11.

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 11

spot40.52.545.58316316
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spot124578347%65%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 94.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spotflip 3.50.52.53.54.55.56.5+$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 11

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.000.000.50.00390.00-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.0010.01030.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.001.50.02280.00-0.00-0.02
0.93-0.002.50.11120.00-0.00-0.07
0.85-0.0030.23980.00-0.00-0.15
0.68-0.013.50.40500.00-0.01-0.33
0.46-0.0140.44470.00-0.01-0.55
0.29-0.014.50.36290.00-0.01-0.72
0.18-0.0150.26340.00-0.01-0.83
0.11-0.005.50.18460.00-0.00-0.89
0.07-0.0060.12870.00-0.00-0.93
0.05-0.006.50.09030.00-0.00-0.96
0.02-0.0080.03320.00-0.00-1.00

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

spot0.535.58131832K0
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

spot0.535.58121763K63K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 367K call contracts, 56K 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: TMC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk