Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 5:58 PM ET

UVIX max pain

Spot (delayed)$46.97
Max pain · Fri, Sep 25$48+2.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$13.5±28.7% by Fri, Sep 25
Put/Call OI0.181K puts / 7K calls
Call wall$75largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV30103.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$268Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $47

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$50+6.5%3d
Fri, Aug 28$46.5-1.0%10d
Fri, Sep 4$45.5-3.1%17d
Fri, Sep 11$46.5-1.0%24d
Fri, Sep 18$50+6.5%31d
Fri, Sep 25$48+2.2%38d
Fri, Oct 2$42-10.6%45d
Fri, Dec 18$55+17.1%122d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot48354351596775$12M$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 — 48 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot48354549.55356.5621K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UVIX open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 25.

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 25

spot48354549.55356.5621111
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot354351596775150%83%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 112.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spotflip 47354549.553.55763+$31K$31K
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 25

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.70-0.07420.02260.05-0.07-0.30
0.68-0.0742.50.02280.05-0.07-0.32
0.67-0.07430.02300.06-0.07-0.33
0.66-0.0743.50.02310.06-0.08-0.34
0.65-0.08440.02320.06-0.08-0.35
0.62-0.08450.02330.06-0.08-0.38
0.59-0.0946.50.02330.06-0.09-0.41
0.57-0.09470.02320.06-0.09-0.42
0.56-0.0947.50.02320.06-0.09-0.44
0.55-0.09480.02310.06-0.09-0.45
0.54-0.0948.50.02300.06-0.09-0.46
0.53-0.09490.02280.06-0.09-0.47
0.52-0.0949.50.02270.06-0.09-0.48
0.51-0.09500.02260.06-0.09-0.49
0.50-0.0950.50.02240.06-0.09-0.50

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 40 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3547.55459.565751K0
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

spot2545.551.557.563.5703K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 31K call contracts, 11K 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: UVIX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk