Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 6, 9:22 AM ET

WMT max pain

Spot (delayed)$113.08
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$119+5.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.9±6.1% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI1.81140K puts / 77K calls
Call wall$130largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3031.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$28.8Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $75
Earnings · expectedThu, Aug 20usually before the open

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 7$111-1.8%1d
Fri, Aug 14$112-1.0%8d
Fri, Aug 21$119+5.2%15d← 1st expiry after earnings (Thu, Aug 20)
Fri, Aug 28$111-1.8%22d
Fri, Sep 4$109-3.6%29d
Fri, Sep 11$110-2.7%36d
Fri, Sep 18$115+1.7%43d
Fri, Oct 16$115+1.7%71d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1196591117143169195$599M$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 — 119 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot119659910911912917535K35K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WMT 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

spot119659910911912917542K42K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot7599123147171195131%28%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 757099108117126155+$12.1M$12.1M
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
0.79-0.081060.03300.07-0.08-0.21
0.76-0.091070.03620.07-0.09-0.25
0.72-0.091080.03910.08-0.09-0.29
0.68-0.101090.04170.09-0.10-0.33
0.63-0.101100.04380.09-0.10-0.38
0.59-0.111110.04530.09-0.11-0.42
0.54-0.111120.04620.09-0.11-0.47
0.50-0.111130.04650.09-0.11-0.51
0.45-0.111140.04620.09-0.11-0.56
0.41-0.111150.04530.09-0.10-0.60
0.36-0.101160.04380.09-0.10-0.65
0.32-0.101170.04180.08-0.10-0.69
0.28-0.091180.03950.08-0.09-0.72
0.24-0.091190.03680.07-0.08-0.76
0.21-0.081200.03390.07-0.08-0.79

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 55 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot659910911912916020K0
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

spot408010011212414581K81K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 557K call contracts, 523K 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: WMT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk