Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 1:05 PM ET

WM max pain

Spot (delayed)$224.1
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$230+2.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.9±7.1% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.611K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$240largest call OI
Put wall$200largest put OI
IV3019.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$338Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $250

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 21$220-1.8%5d
Fri, Sep 18$230+2.6%33d
Fri, Oct 16$230+2.6%61d
Fri, Dec 18$210-6.3%124d
Fri, Jan 15$210-6.3%152d
Fri, Mar 19$220-1.8%215d
Thu, Jun 17$220-1.8%305d
Fri, Jan 21$190-15.2%523d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot230150190230270310350$21M$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 — 230 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot230150170190220260300548548
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WM 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

spot2301501701902202603001212
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot15019023027031035057%17%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 20.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 250150170190220260300+$419K$419K
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
0.991750.00150.04-0.01-0.02
0.981800.00210.05-0.01-0.02
0.971850.00290.07-0.01-0.03
0.96-0.011900.00410.09-0.02-0.05
0.94-0.011950.00580.13-0.02-0.07
0.91-0.022000.00790.16-0.03-0.10
0.81-0.042100.01400.26-0.04-0.20
0.64-0.052200.02040.35-0.06-0.38
0.43-0.052300.02160.37-0.06-0.60
0.25-0.042400.01680.30-0.04-0.79
0.14-0.032500.01100.21-0.02-0.90
0.07-0.022600.00670.14-0.01-0.96
0.04-0.022700.00410.09-0.09-1.00
0.03-0.012800.00250.06-0.11-1.00
0.02-0.012900.00160.04-0.11-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 24 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1151501802202803403K0
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

spot1001351702102803508K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 24K call contracts, 19K 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: WM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk