Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 3:09 PM ET

UVXY max pain

Spot (delayed)$20.25
Max pain · Fri, Sep 25$20-1.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.49±22.2% by Fri, Sep 25
Put/Call OI0.601K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$27largest call OI
Put wall$19largest put OI
IV3075.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$5Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $16

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 14$20-1.2%1d
Fri, Aug 21$23+13.6%8d
Fri, Aug 28$21+3.7%15d
Fri, Sep 4$22+8.7%22d
Fri, Sep 11$20.5+1.3%29d
Fri, Sep 18$28+38.3%36d
Fri, Sep 25$20-1.2%43d
Fri, Oct 16$24+18.5%64d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot20152127323844$3M$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot20151922252834625625
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UVXY 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

spot201519222528344040
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot152127323844152%71%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 81.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spotflip 16151922252834+$14K$14K
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
0.87-0.01160.04440.01-0.01-0.13
0.80-0.01170.05640.02-0.02-0.20
0.76-0.0217.50.06070.02-0.02-0.24
0.72-0.02180.06380.02-0.02-0.28
0.68-0.0218.50.06580.03-0.02-0.32
0.65-0.02190.06700.03-0.02-0.35
0.61-0.0219.50.06750.03-0.02-0.39
0.57-0.03200.06740.03-0.03-0.42
0.54-0.0320.50.06680.03-0.03-0.46
0.51-0.03210.06590.03-0.03-0.49
0.48-0.0321.50.06460.03-0.03-0.52
0.46-0.03220.06320.03-0.03-0.54
0.43-0.0322.50.06150.03-0.03-0.57
0.41-0.03230.05980.03-0.03-0.59
0.39-0.0323.50.05790.03-0.03-0.61

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 35 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot521.527.534467014K0
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

spot5212736476823K23K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 157K call contracts, 72K 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: UVXY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk