Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 11:11 AM ET

VIAV max pain

Spot (delayed)$44.25
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$35-20.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$25.1±56.7% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI0.0257 puts / 4K calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3081.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$84Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $50

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 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$42-5.1%3d
Fri, Sep 18$40-9.6%31d
Fri, Nov 20$40-9.6%94d
Fri, Dec 18$35-20.9%122d
Fri, Jan 15$32-27.7%150d
Fri, Feb 19$38-14.1%185d
Fri, Mar 19$35-20.9%213d
Fri, Apr 16$35-20.9%241d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot35253851647790$11M$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot3525405570904K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VIAV open contracts per strike for Fri, Apr 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, Apr 16

spot3525405570904K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot25385164779092%86%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 87.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spotflip 502540557090+$82K$82K
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, Apr 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.89-0.01250.00540.07-0.01-0.11
0.83-0.01300.00720.09-0.02-0.16
0.78-0.02350.00870.11-0.02-0.22
0.72-0.02400.01000.13-0.02-0.28
0.66-0.02450.01090.14-0.02-0.34
0.61-0.02500.01150.14-0.02-0.39
0.56-0.03550.01180.15-0.02-0.45
0.51-0.03600.01200.15-0.02-0.50
0.46-0.03650.01190.15-0.02-0.54
0.42-0.03700.01180.15-0.02-0.59
0.35-0.02800.01110.14-0.02-0.66
0.32-0.02850.01070.14-0.02-0.69

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 13 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot10212937456538K0
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

spot5182736457040K40K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 103K call contracts, 39K 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: VIAV workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk