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

UGL max pain

Spot (delayed)$51.37
Max pain · Thu, Jun 17$45-12.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$17.35±33.8% by Thu, Jun 17
Put/Call OI0.87225 puts / 260 calls
Call wall$65largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV3042.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $35

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$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

spot45253443526170$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 · Thu, Jun 17

spot452540506070219219
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UGL open contracts per strike for Thu, Jun 17.

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 · Thu, Jun 17

spot45254050607022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot25344352617059%45%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 47.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spotflip 352540506070+$8K$8K
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 · Thu, Jun 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.00250.00310.04-0.00-0.03
0.87-0.01350.00900.10-0.01-0.13
0.80-0.01400.01220.13-0.01-0.20
0.72-0.01450.01490.16-0.01-0.28
0.63-0.01500.01670.17-0.01-0.37
0.55-0.01550.01760.18-0.01-0.46
0.47-0.01600.01760.19-0.01-0.55
0.40-0.01650.01700.18-0.01-0.62
0.34-0.01700.01600.17-0.01-0.69

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

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