Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 9:30 PM ET

UMAC max pain

Spot (delayed)$34.36
Max pain · Fri, Sep 11$26-24.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.8±28.5% by Fri, Sep 11
Put/Call OI0.82438 puts / 532 calls
Call wall$27largest call OI
Put wall$26largest put OI
IV30131.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$8Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $28

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$20-41.8%5d
Fri, Aug 28$22-36.0%12d
Fri, Sep 4$25-27.2%19d
Fri, Sep 11$26-24.3%26d
Fri, Sep 18$22.5-34.5%33d
Fri, Sep 25$25-27.2%40d
Fri, Oct 2$25.5-25.8%47d
Fri, Nov 20$20-41.8%96d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2651117232935$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 — 26 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spot26514.51821.52531.5155155
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UMAC open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 11.

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 11

spot26514.51821.52531.5114114
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spot101520253035297%51%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 128.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spotflip 285141720.52429+$4K$4K
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 11

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.83-0.06260.02080.02-0.06-0.17
0.80-0.06270.02290.03-0.06-0.20
0.77-0.07280.02480.03-0.07-0.23
0.74-0.07290.02650.03-0.07-0.26
0.71-0.07300.02800.03-0.07-0.29
0.68-0.08310.02920.03-0.08-0.32
0.66-0.0831.50.02960.04-0.08-0.34
0.55-0.09350.03140.04-0.09-0.45

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 8 strikes around the money — all 37 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.515.520.525.530.5386K0
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

spot2.5141924293512K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 58K call contracts, 30K 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: UMAC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk