Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 11:13 PM ET

UUUU max pain

Spot (delayed)$15.1
Max pain · Fri, Sep 4$14-7.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.98±13.1% by Fri, Sep 4
Put/Call OI0.701K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3068.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$29Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $8.5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$13-13.9%5d
Fri, Aug 28$13.5-10.6%12d
Fri, Sep 4$14-7.3%19d
Fri, Sep 11$15.5+2.6%26d
Fri, Sep 18$12-20.5%33d
Fri, Sep 25$14-7.3%40d
Fri, Oct 2$17+12.6%47d
Fri, Oct 16$15-0.7%61d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot145812151922$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 — 14 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot145911.51416.520405405
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UUUU open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 4.

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 4

spot145911.51416.520147147
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot6912161922248%63%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 69.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spotflip 8.561012.51517.5+$7K$7K
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 4

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.94-0.0111.50.04120.00-0.01-0.06
0.92-0.01120.05670.01-0.01-0.08
0.88-0.0112.50.07590.01-0.01-0.12
0.84-0.01130.09780.01-0.01-0.16
0.78-0.0213.50.12000.01-0.02-0.22
0.71-0.02140.13950.01-0.02-0.29
0.63-0.0214.50.15360.01-0.02-0.37
0.55-0.02150.16060.01-0.02-0.45
0.47-0.0215.50.16040.01-0.02-0.53
0.40-0.02160.15390.01-0.02-0.60
0.33-0.0216.50.14300.01-0.02-0.67
0.27-0.02170.12920.01-0.02-0.73
0.22-0.0217.50.11440.01-0.02-0.78
0.18-0.02180.09940.01-0.02-0.82
0.12-0.01190.07230.01-0.01-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 28 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot38111417206K0
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

spot1812.517233259K59K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 316K call contracts, 136K 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: UUUU workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk