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

TMC max pain

Spot (delayed)$3.78
Max pain · Fri, Oct 2$0.5-86.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.06±27.9% by Fri, Oct 2
Put/Call OI0.0913 puts / 148 calls
Call wall$4largest call OI
Put wall$4.5largest put OI
IV3087.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$334per 1% move

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 — 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

spot0.5123456$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 — 0.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot0.50.51.53456868
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TMC open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 2.

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, Oct 2

spot0.50.51.53458888
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot234456301%70%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 95.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot0.51.5345+$316$316
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, Oct 2

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.000.50.00600.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.0010.01560.00-0.00-0.02
0.97-0.001.50.03260.00-0.00-0.03
0.94-0.0020.06360.00-0.00-0.06
0.81-0.0030.20910.00-0.00-0.20
0.67-0.013.50.29790.01-0.01-0.34
0.51-0.0140.32560.01-0.01-0.50
0.38-0.014.50.29790.01-0.01-0.63
0.28-0.0150.25180.01-0.01-0.73
0.16-0.0060.16830.00-0.00-0.85

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