Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 12, 6:50 AM ET

UL max pain

Spot (delayed)$62.37
Max pain · Fri, Sep 25$60-3.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.5±5.6% by Fri, Sep 25
Put wall$59largest put OI
IV3019.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$3Kper 1% move

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$62.5+0.2%6d
Fri, Aug 28$63+1.0%13d
Fri, Sep 4$65+4.2%20d
Fri, Sep 11$65+4.2%27d
Fri, Sep 18$65+4.2%34d
Fri, Sep 25$60-3.8%41d
Fri, Nov 20$57.5-7.8%97d
Fri, Dec 18$62.5+0.2%125d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot60525455575860$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 — 60 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot605257596066
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UL open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 25.

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 25

spot605257596011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot52545557586041%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 19.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot52575960+$1K$1K
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 25

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.01520.01410.02-0.01-0.05
0.86-0.01570.03920.05-0.01-0.14
0.78-0.01590.05880.07-0.02-0.22
0.73-0.02600.07020.07-0.02-0.28

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

spot57.562.5677177.52K0
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

spot305057.56371787K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 41K call contracts, 35K 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: UL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk