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

TS max pain

Spot (delayed)$52.62
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$52.5-0.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.38±6.4% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.391K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$62.5largest call OI
Put wall$42.5largest put OI
IV3025.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$171Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $32.5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

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

spot52.5304356698295$12M$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 — 52.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot52.53045556575951K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TS open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 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, Sep 18

spot52.53045556575951313
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot40475461687595%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 25.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 32.5304555657595+$75K$75K
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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.01300.00340.01-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.0132.50.00450.01-0.01-0.03
0.94-0.01400.01160.02-0.01-0.06
0.92-0.0142.50.01680.02-0.02-0.07
0.89-0.01450.02570.03-0.02-0.11
0.84-0.0247.50.04110.04-0.02-0.16
0.74-0.02500.06750.05-0.02-0.26
0.54-0.0252.50.09420.07-0.02-0.46
0.33-0.02550.08160.06-0.02-0.68
0.20-0.0257.50.05540.05-0.02-0.81
0.13-0.02600.03730.04-0.02-0.88
0.09-0.0162.50.02600.03-0.01-0.92
0.07-0.01650.01880.02-0.01-0.95
0.05-0.0167.50.01400.02-0.01-0.96
0.04-0.01700.01070.01-0.00-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. 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