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

UMAC max pain

Spot (delayed)$34.36
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$20-41.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$18.5±53.8% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.906K puts / 7K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV30131.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$35Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $5

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$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

spot2031120283745$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot202.51017.525402K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UMAC 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

spot202.51017.52540738738
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot31120283745248%116%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 133.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 52.51017.52540+$21K$21K
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
0.96-0.0112.50.00370.01-0.01-0.04
0.93-0.01150.00540.02-0.01-0.06
0.90-0.0217.50.00730.03-0.02-0.09
0.87-0.03200.00920.04-0.02-0.13
0.83-0.0322.50.01100.04-0.03-0.17
0.78-0.03250.01260.05-0.03-0.21
0.70-0.04300.01480.06-0.04-0.29
0.62-0.05350.01600.07-0.05-0.37
0.55-0.05400.01640.07-0.05-0.45
0.48-0.05450.01640.07-0.05-0.51

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 14 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