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

UL max pain

Spot (delayed)$62.37
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$57.5-7.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.75±9.2% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.753K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$57.5largest put OI
IV3019.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$358Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $65

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 — 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

spot57.5435364748595$13M$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 — 57.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot57.542.55057.56572.5851K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UL open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot57.542.55057.56572.58533
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot43536474859547%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 21.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 6542.55057.56572.585+$127K$127K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.980.00450.00490.02-0.00-0.03
0.96-0.0047.50.00750.03-0.01-0.04
0.95-0.00500.01160.04-0.01-0.07
0.92-0.0152.50.01770.05-0.01-0.10
0.87-0.01550.02640.07-0.01-0.15
0.79-0.0157.50.03760.09-0.01-0.23
0.69-0.01600.04920.12-0.01-0.34
0.56-0.0162.50.05700.13-0.01-0.47
0.41-0.01650.05710.13-0.01-0.61
0.29-0.0167.50.04980.11-0.01-0.73
0.19-0.01700.03900.09-0.01-0.83
0.12-0.0172.50.02840.07-0.01-0.91
0.08-0.01750.01980.05-0.01-0.97
0.03-0.00800.00920.02-0.01-1.00
0.01-0.00850.00420.01-0.01-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. 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