Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 4:37 PM ET

TMQ max pain

Spot (delayed)$3.76
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$3-20.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.38±10.0% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.27953 puts / 4K calls
Call wall$4largest call OI
Put wall$3largest put OI
IV3082.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$24Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $2

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$3-20.2%7d
Fri, Sep 18$4+6.4%35d
Fri, Dec 18$4+6.4%126d
Fri, Jan 15$4+6.4%154d
Fri, Mar 19$3-20.2%217d
Fri, Jan 21$3-20.2%525d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot3124578$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 — 3 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot313572K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TMQ open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 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, Aug 21

spot31357106106
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot234678270%67%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 69.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 22468+$22K$22K
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, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.0010.01260.00-0.01-0.01
0.96-0.0120.05490.00-0.01-0.04
0.88-0.0130.25020.00-0.01-0.12
0.34-0.0140.78210.00-0.01-0.67
0.11-0.0150.23590.00-0.01-0.90
0.06-0.0160.11720.00-0.01-0.94
0.04-0.0170.07320.00-0.01-0.96
0.03-0.0180.05140.00-0.00-0.97

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

spot135794K0
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

spot135799K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 32K call contracts, 6K 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: TMQ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk