Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Jul 31, 2:47 AM ET

VWAV max pain

Spot (delayed)$1.95
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$5+156.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.85±94.9% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.71530 puts / 749 calls
Call wall$5largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV30138.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$70per 1% move · flip ≈ $5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$5+156.4%19d
Fri, Sep 18$5+156.4%47d
Fri, Dec 18$5+156.4%138d
Fri, Jan 15$5+156.4%166d
Fri, Mar 19$2.5+28.2%229d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot53467910$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot52.557.510527527
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VWAV open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 21.

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, Aug 21

spot52.557.5101414
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot3467910836%218%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 623.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 52.557.510+$192$192
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, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.35-0.012.50.46180.00-0.01-0.66
0.14-0.0150.17280.00-0.01-0.86
0.10-0.017.50.11220.00-0.00-0.91
0.08-0.01100.08570.00-0.00-0.93

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

spot2.57.512.517.522.56K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.510K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 23K call contracts, 2K 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: VWAV workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk