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

USAR max pain

Spot (delayed)$19.17
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$24+25.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.9±41.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.2036K puts / 30K calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$16largest put OI
IV3085.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$49Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $8

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 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — 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

spot2451321293745$48M$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 — 24 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot24513192531378K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)USAR open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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, Dec 18

spot2451319253137310310
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot51321293745138%86%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 90.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 851319253137+$93K$93K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.88-0.01120.01950.02-0.01-0.12
0.84-0.01130.02310.03-0.01-0.15
0.81-0.01140.02640.03-0.01-0.19
0.77-0.01150.02950.03-0.01-0.22
0.73-0.01160.03210.04-0.01-0.26
0.69-0.01170.03430.04-0.01-0.30
0.66-0.01180.03600.04-0.01-0.34
0.62-0.01190.03720.04-0.01-0.38
0.58-0.02200.03810.04-0.02-0.42
0.55-0.02210.03850.04-0.02-0.45
0.51-0.02220.03860.04-0.02-0.49
0.48-0.02230.03840.04-0.02-0.52
0.45-0.02240.03800.04-0.02-0.55
0.42-0.02250.03740.04-0.02-0.58
0.40-0.02260.03670.04-0.02-0.61

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 34 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