Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 4:38 AM ET

TS max pain

Spot (delayed)$52.62
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$55+4.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.05±3.9% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.0776 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$52.5largest put OI
IV3025.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$22Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $40

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$55+4.5%7d
Fri, Sep 18$52.5-0.2%35d
Fri, Nov 20$55+4.5%98d
Fri, Dec 18$62.5+18.8%126d
Fri, Mar 19$45-14.5%217d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot55384450566268$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 — 55 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot5537.550556065538538
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TS 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

spot5537.55055606522
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot404550556065127%26%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 32.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 4037.550556065+$31K$31K
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
0.98-0.0137.50.00450.00-0.02-0.02
0.98-0.02400.00690.00-0.02-0.02
0.82-0.05500.08350.02-0.05-0.18
0.55-0.0652.50.17110.03-0.06-0.46
0.19-0.04550.11010.02-0.04-0.82
0.07-0.0257.50.04460.01-0.02-0.94
0.03-0.01600.02060.01-0.01-0.97
0.02-0.0162.50.01070.00-0.01-0.99
0.01-0.01650.00610.00-0.01-1.00
0.01-0.0167.50.00370.00-0.02-1.00

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

spot32.5506070852K0
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

spot22.53547.56072.5952K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K 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: TS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk