Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 2:33 PM ET

TME max pain

Spot (delayed)$8.92
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$5-43.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.28±47.9% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.573K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV3035.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$11Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $15

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$9+0.9%5d
Fri, Sep 18$10+12.1%33d
Fri, Oct 16$9+0.9%61d
Fri, Jan 15$8-10.3%152d
Fri, Jan 21$5-43.9%523d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot551118243137$13M$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot5515202530352K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TME 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

spot55152025303522
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot51118243137101%42%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 48.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spotflip 1551520253035+$7K$7K
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
0.92-0.0050.03090.02-0.00-0.11
0.58-0.00100.07930.04-0.00-0.46
0.32-0.00150.07000.04-0.00-0.76
0.23-0.00180.05770.03-0.00-0.89
0.19-0.00200.05030.03-0.00-0.96
0.14-0.00230.04110.02-0.00-1.00
0.12-0.00250.03600.02-0.00-1.00
0.10-0.00270.03180.02-0.00-1.00
0.08-0.00300.02650.02-0.00-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 9 strikes around the money — all 12 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1591317227K0
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

spot161116213017K17K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 46K call contracts, 46K 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: TME workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk