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

UUUU max pain

Spot (delayed)$15.1
Max pain · Fri, Oct 2$17+12.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.64±17.5% by Fri, Oct 2
Put/Call OI0.574 puts / 7 calls
Call wall$17largest call OI
Put wall$18largest put OI
IV3068.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$73per 1% move

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$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

spot17151616171718$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 — 17 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot171516171855
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UUUU 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

spot171516171811
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot15161718+$107$107
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
0.57-0.02150.09840.02-0.02-0.43
0.47-0.02160.09900.02-0.02-0.53
0.38-0.02170.09410.02-0.02-0.62
0.31-0.01180.08590.02-0.01-0.69

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

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