Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 28, 10:01 AM ET

W max pain

Spot (delayed)$105.01
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$105-0.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$16.28±15.5% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI1.841K puts / 554 calls
Call wall$115largest call OI
Put wall$80largest put OI
IV3053.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$32Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $75

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 28$96-8.6%today
Fri, Sep 4$105-0.0%7d
Fri, Sep 11$104-1.0%14d
Fri, Sep 18$95-9.5%21d
Fri, Sep 25$97-7.6%28d
Fri, Oct 2$101-3.8%35d
Fri, Oct 16$105-0.0%49d
Fri, Nov 20$115+9.5%84d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1057085100115130145$2M$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 — 105 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot105708595105120135305305
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)W 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

spot105708595105120135100100
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot708510011513014559%52%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 52.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 75708595105120135+$48K$48K
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
0.93-0.02800.00640.06-0.03-0.07
0.88-0.03850.00940.08-0.04-0.12
0.82-0.05900.01260.10-0.06-0.18
0.78-0.0692.50.01420.12-0.06-0.22
0.74-0.06950.01560.13-0.07-0.26
0.69-0.0797.50.01690.14-0.07-0.31
0.65-0.071000.01790.14-0.07-0.35
0.55-0.081050.01910.15-0.08-0.45
0.46-0.081100.01920.15-0.08-0.55
0.37-0.081150.01820.15-0.07-0.64
0.30-0.071200.01660.14-0.07-0.71
0.23-0.061250.01450.12-0.06-0.78
0.18-0.051300.01230.10-0.04-0.84
0.13-0.041350.01020.08-0.03-0.88
0.07-0.031450.00650.06-0.01-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 17 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot5083951061171282K0
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

spot12.54062.587.510614514K14K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 91K call contracts, 111K 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: W workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk