Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 11:43 PM ET

TRI max pain

Spot (delayed)$103.66
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$90-13.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$22.3±21.5% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.92636 puts / 693 calls
Call wall$120largest call OI
Put wall$60largest put OI
IV3046.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$46Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $120

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$100-3.5%4d
Fri, Sep 18$105+1.3%32d
Fri, Oct 16$85-18.0%60d
Fri, Dec 18$90-13.2%123d
Fri, Jan 15$80-22.8%151d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot90406488112136160$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 — 90 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot90406590115140361361
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TRI open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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, Dec 18

spot904065901151402020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot40648811213616089%41%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 46.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 120406590115140+$34K$34K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.92-0.02700.00460.09-0.02-0.08
0.89-0.02750.00600.11-0.02-0.12
0.85-0.03800.00770.14-0.03-0.15
0.80-0.03850.00950.17-0.03-0.20
0.75-0.04900.01130.19-0.04-0.26
0.68-0.04950.01280.21-0.04-0.33
0.61-0.041000.01400.23-0.04-0.40
0.54-0.041050.01470.24-0.04-0.47
0.47-0.041100.01480.24-0.04-0.54
0.40-0.041150.01440.23-0.04-0.61
0.34-0.041200.01370.22-0.04-0.67
0.28-0.041250.01270.20-0.04-0.73
0.23-0.031300.01150.18-0.03-0.78
0.19-0.031350.01020.17-0.03-0.82
0.16-0.031400.00900.15-0.03-0.86

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 25 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot6075901051201359780
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

spot4065901151403K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 11K 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: TRI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk