Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 4:53 AM ET

TREX max pain

Spot (delayed)$49.63
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$42.5-14.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.75±5.5% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.25437 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$42.5largest call OI
Put wall$32.5largest put OI
IV3042.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$179Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $42.5

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$42.5-14.4%6d
Fri, Sep 18$45-9.3%34d
Fri, Oct 16$45-9.3%62d
Fri, Dec 18$40-19.4%125d
Fri, Jan 15$42.5-14.4%153d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot42.5253239465360$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 — 42.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot42.5253542.55057.5852852
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TREX 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

spot42.5253542.55057.511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot354045505560180%44%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 49.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 42.5253542.55057.5+$49K$49K
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
0.97-0.0432.50.00530.00-0.04-0.03
0.97-0.05350.00750.01-0.05-0.03
0.95-0.0637.50.01110.01-0.06-0.05
0.94-0.06400.01690.01-0.06-0.06
0.91-0.0742.50.02730.01-0.07-0.10
0.85-0.08450.04690.02-0.08-0.15
0.72-0.1047.50.08370.02-0.10-0.28
0.48-0.10500.11200.03-0.10-0.53
0.26-0.1052.50.08050.02-0.10-0.74
0.16-0.08550.05030.02-0.08-0.84
0.11-0.0757.50.03300.01-0.07-0.90
0.08-0.06600.02280.01-0.06-0.93

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot27.53542.55057.5708930
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

spot20304050601K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 2K 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: TREX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk