Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 27, 11:49 PM ET

UCTT max pain

Spot (delayed)$73.42
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$45-38.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$40±54.5% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.26231 puts / 881 calls
Call wall$45largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3086.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$19Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $45
Earnings · expectedTue, Oct 27usually after the close

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, Sep 18$70-4.7%20d
Fri, Oct 16$75+2.1%48d
Fri, Dec 18$75+2.1%111d← 1st expiry after earnings (Tue, Oct 27)
Fri, Mar 19$45-38.7%202d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot45356085110135160$7M$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 — 45 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot45356085110135160479479
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UCTT open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

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, Mar 19

spot4535608511013516033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot35608511013516099%90%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 92.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 45356590115140+$10K$10K
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.90-0.02400.00340.10-0.02-0.10
0.86-0.02450.00410.12-0.03-0.14
0.83-0.03500.00480.14-0.03-0.17
0.79-0.03550.00540.16-0.04-0.21
0.76-0.04600.00600.17-0.04-0.24
0.72-0.04650.00640.19-0.04-0.28
0.68-0.04700.00680.20-0.04-0.32
0.65-0.04750.00710.21-0.05-0.36
0.61-0.05800.00740.21-0.05-0.39
0.58-0.05850.00750.22-0.05-0.43
0.55-0.05900.00760.22-0.05-0.46
0.51-0.05950.00760.22-0.05-0.49
0.48-0.051000.00760.22-0.05-0.52
0.46-0.051050.00760.22-0.05-0.55
0.43-0.051100.00750.22-0.05-0.58

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 26 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2050851201551904K0
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

spot2050851201551904K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 19K 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: UCTT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk