Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 16, 7:20 AM ET

TMDX max pain

Spot (delayed)$88.01
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$65-26.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$55.5±63.1% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.231K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$100largest call OI
Put wall$80largest put OI
IV3050.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$166Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $40

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$80-9.1%5d
Fri, Sep 18$80-9.1%33d
Fri, Oct 16$80-9.1%61d
Fri, Dec 18$90+2.3%124d
Fri, Jan 15$65-26.1%152d
Fri, Jan 21$65-26.1%523d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot653570105140175210$61M$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 — 65 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot653565951251551852K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TMDX 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

spot65356595125155185110110
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot357010514017521075%63%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 67.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spotflip 40356595125155185+$78K$78K
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
0.86-0.01550.00300.24-0.02-0.15
0.83-0.01600.00330.27-0.02-0.17
0.81-0.01650.00360.29-0.02-0.20
0.78-0.02700.00400.31-0.02-0.23
0.76-0.02750.00420.33-0.02-0.25
0.73-0.02800.00450.35-0.02-0.28
0.71-0.02850.00470.37-0.02-0.31
0.68-0.02900.00490.38-0.02-0.33
0.66-0.02950.00510.39-0.03-0.36
0.63-0.021000.00530.40-0.03-0.39
0.61-0.021050.00540.41-0.03-0.41
0.59-0.021100.00550.41-0.03-0.44
0.56-0.021150.00560.42-0.03-0.47
0.54-0.031200.00560.42-0.03-0.49
0.52-0.031250.00560.42-0.03-0.52

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 35 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3565951251551854K0
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

spot30651001351702107K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 35K call contracts, 26K 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: TMDX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk