Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 5:01 AM ET

UTL max pain

Spot (delayed)$54.06
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$55+1.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.92±9.1% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI1.6710 puts / 6 calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV3022.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$631per 1% move · flip ≈ $55

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$55+1.7%3d
Fri, Sep 18$50-7.5%31d
Fri, Dec 18$55+1.7%122d
Fri, Mar 19$50-7.5%213d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot55454851545760$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 — 55 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot554550556055
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UTL open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 21.

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, Aug 21

spot554550556011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot454851545760201%55%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 103.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 5545505560+$1K$1K
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, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.06450.01610.01-0.07-0.05
0.89-0.08500.05380.01-0.08-0.11
0.31-0.08550.19640.02-0.08-0.71
0.08-0.06600.03770.01-0.06-0.93

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot40505560670
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

spot2535455565757272
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 149 call contracts, 75 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: UTL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk