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

VIA max pain

Spot (delayed)$26.36
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$17.5-33.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.88±22.3% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI1.2869 puts / 54 calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$17.5largest put OI
IV3075.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$339per 1% move · flip ≈ $15

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 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 — 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

spot17.5101316192225$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 — 17.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot17.5101520255050
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VIA open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 16.

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 16

spot17.51015202511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot101316192225236%66%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 68.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 1510152025+$608$608
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 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.01100.00610.01-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.0112.50.00940.01-0.02-0.07
0.91-0.02150.01380.02-0.02-0.10
0.86-0.0217.50.02000.02-0.02-0.14
0.80-0.02200.02820.03-0.02-0.19
0.72-0.0222.50.03800.04-0.02-0.28
0.61-0.03250.04660.04-0.02-0.38

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