Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 2:20 PM ET

UGL max pain

Spot (delayed)$51.37
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$45-12.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.45±10.6% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.31403 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV3042.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$132Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $37

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$45-12.4%5d
Fri, Sep 18$45-12.4%33d
Fri, Oct 16$52+1.2%61d
Fri, Dec 18$45-12.4%124d
Fri, Jan 15$45-12.4%152d
Thu, Jun 17$45-12.4%305d
Fri, Jan 21$70+36.3%523d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot45354045505560$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 — 45 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot45353943475155367367
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UGL 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

spot45353943475155101101
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot35404550556076%42%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 42.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 37353943475155+$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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.87-0.02440.02740.03-0.02-0.13
0.84-0.03450.03210.04-0.03-0.16
0.81-0.03460.03720.04-0.03-0.20
0.77-0.03470.04250.05-0.03-0.23
0.72-0.03480.04760.05-0.03-0.28
0.67-0.04490.05210.06-0.04-0.33
0.62-0.04500.05560.06-0.04-0.39
0.56-0.04510.05770.06-0.04-0.45
0.50-0.04520.05820.06-0.04-0.50
0.45-0.04530.05730.06-0.04-0.56
0.39-0.04540.05510.06-0.04-0.61
0.35-0.04550.05200.06-0.04-0.66
0.18-0.03600.03350.04-0.03-0.83

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2545546372811K0
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

spot25374961731008K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 32K call contracts, 21K 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: UGL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk