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

USAR max pain

Spot (delayed)$19.17
Max pain · Fri, Oct 2$18.5-3.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.73±24.6% by Fri, Oct 2
Put/Call OI0.1634 puts / 210 calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$16largest put OI
IV3085.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $20

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 — 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

spot18.5141822273135$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 — 18.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot18.51418202226358383
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)USAR open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 2.

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, Oct 2

spot18.51418202226356363
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot14182227313595%85%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 87.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spotflip 20141820222635+$2K$2K
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, Oct 2

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.88-0.01140.03190.01-0.01-0.12
0.78-0.02160.04860.02-0.02-0.22
0.72-0.02170.05560.02-0.02-0.28
0.69-0.0217.50.05850.02-0.02-0.31
0.66-0.02180.06090.03-0.02-0.34
0.62-0.0218.50.06280.03-0.03-0.38
0.59-0.03190.06410.03-0.03-0.41
0.56-0.0319.50.06500.03-0.03-0.44
0.53-0.03200.06540.03-0.03-0.47
0.49-0.0320.50.06540.03-0.03-0.51
0.47-0.03210.06490.03-0.03-0.54
0.44-0.0321.50.06420.03-0.03-0.56
0.41-0.03220.06310.03-0.03-0.59
0.36-0.03230.06020.03-0.02-0.64

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 21 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