Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 11:54 PM ET

VIA max pain

Spot (delayed)$26.36
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$20-24.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.5±20.9% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.036 puts / 190 calls
Call wall$22.5largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3075.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$6Kper 1% move

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$15-43.1%5d
Fri, Sep 18$20-24.1%33d
Fri, Oct 16$17.5-33.6%61d
Fri, Jan 15$12.5-52.6%152d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot20181921222425$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot2017.52022.525166166
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VIA open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 18.

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 18

spot2017.52022.525372372
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot17.52022.525+$5K$5K
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 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.89-0.0317.50.01990.01-0.03-0.11
0.83-0.03200.03010.02-0.03-0.17
0.75-0.0322.50.04450.03-0.03-0.25
0.62-0.04250.05960.03-0.03-0.38

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

spot12.517.522.5302720
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.530553553
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 110 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: VIA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk