Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 9:45 PM ET

USAR max pain

Spot (delayed)$19.17
Max pain · Fri, Sep 25$19-0.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.34±22.6% by Fri, Sep 25
Put/Call OI0.19844 puts / 5K calls
Call wall$28largest call OI
Put wall$29largest put OI
IV3085.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$58Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $13

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$18-6.1%3d
Fri, Aug 28$17.5-8.7%10d
Fri, Sep 4$17.5-8.7%17d
Fri, Sep 11$18.5-3.5%24d
Fri, Sep 18$20+4.3%31d
Fri, Sep 25$19-0.9%38d
Fri, Oct 2$18.5-3.5%45d
Fri, Dec 18$24+25.2%122d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot19131823283338$5M$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 — 19 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot1912.515.518.521.527342K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)USAR 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

spot1912.515.518.521.527348383
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot131823283338114%74%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 87.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spotflip 1312.515.518.521.52734+$29K$29K
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
0.82-0.0215.50.04810.02-0.02-0.18
0.79-0.02160.05300.02-0.02-0.21
0.76-0.0216.50.05760.02-0.02-0.24
0.72-0.02170.06170.02-0.02-0.28
0.69-0.0217.50.06510.02-0.02-0.31
0.65-0.03180.06790.02-0.03-0.35
0.61-0.0318.50.07000.02-0.03-0.38
0.58-0.03190.07140.03-0.03-0.42
0.54-0.0319.50.07210.03-0.03-0.46
0.51-0.03200.07220.03-0.03-0.49
0.47-0.0320.50.07180.03-0.03-0.53
0.44-0.03210.07080.03-0.03-0.56
0.41-0.0321.50.06940.02-0.03-0.59
0.38-0.03220.06770.02-0.03-0.62
0.33-0.03230.06340.02-0.03-0.67

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 33 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot812.516.520.524.5329K0
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

spot110.516.522.5324427K27K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 309K call contracts, 183K 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: USAR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk