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

VWAV max pain

Spot (delayed)$1.95
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$5+156.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.08±55.1% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.101K puts / 10K calls
Call wall$12.5largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV30138.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · 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$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

spot53712162125$14M$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, Sep 18

spot52.57.512.517.522.56K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VWAV 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

spot52.57.512.517.522.52424
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot3712162125549%122%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 152.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 7.52.57.512.517.522.5+$1K$1K
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
0.43-0.002.50.37380.00-0.00-0.57
0.16-0.0050.18010.00-0.00-0.85
0.10-0.007.50.11180.000.00-0.92
0.07-0.00100.08080.00-0.95
0.06-0.0012.50.06340.00-0.97
0.05-0.00150.05220.00-0.98
0.04-0.0017.50.04450.00-0.99
0.04-0.00200.03890.00-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 8 strikes around the money — all 10 are in the CSV. 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