Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 5:32 AM ET

WLKP max pain

Spot (delayed)$21.7
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$22.5+3.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.89±4.1% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.53231 puts / 439 calls
Call wall$22.5largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3028.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$28Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $22.5

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$22.5+3.7%6d
Fri, Sep 18$20-7.8%34d
Fri, Nov 20$20-7.8%97d
Fri, Feb 19$22.5+3.7%188d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot22.581217212630$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 — 22.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot22.57.517.52022.52530298298
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WLKP 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

spot22.57.517.52022.5253011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot182023252830151%42%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 96.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 22.57.517.52022.52530+$36K$36K
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
0.99-0.027.50.00220.00-0.02-0.01
0.94-0.0317.50.03900.00-0.03-0.07
0.83-0.04200.12680.01-0.04-0.17
0.28-0.0322.50.27840.01-0.03-0.73
0.07-0.02250.06560.00-0.02-0.95
0.02-0.01300.01250.00-0.01-0.99

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

spot2022.525303820
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

spot7.512.517.522.530578578
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 943 call contracts, 311 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: WLKP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk