Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 11:24 PM ET

TREE max pain

Spot (delayed)$31.25
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$40+28.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.85±18.7% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI1.021K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3055.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$36Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $30

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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$45+44.0%3d
Fri, Sep 18$35+12.0%31d
Fri, Oct 16$40+28.0%59d
Fri, Jan 15$30-4.0%150d
Fri, Dec 17$17.5-44.0%486d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot40203040506070$3M$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot40202535455565592592
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TREE open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 16.

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 16

spot402025354555659090
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot203040506070131%45%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 58.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 30202535455565+$29K$29K
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 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.01200.01150.01-0.01-0.06
0.91-0.0122.50.01860.02-0.01-0.09
0.85-0.01250.02920.03-0.02-0.15
0.64-0.02300.05420.05-0.02-0.37
0.36-0.02350.05420.05-0.02-0.65
0.19-0.02400.03680.03-0.02-0.83
0.11-0.01450.02280.02-0.01-0.92
0.06-0.01500.01420.01-0.01-0.97
0.04-0.01550.00910.01-0.01-1.00
0.03-0.00600.00610.01-0.01-1.00
0.02-0.00650.00420.01-0.01-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 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

spot2025354555656580
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

spot17.5254055701K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 4K 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: TREE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk