Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 6, 7:20 AM ET

WMT max pain

Spot (delayed)$112.6
Max pain · Fri, Aug 28$111-1.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.85±7.0% by Fri, Aug 28
Put/Call OI2.8419K puts / 7K calls
Call wall$120largest call OI
Put wall$99largest put OI
IV3031.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$1.6Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $85
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$111-1.4%1d
Fri, Aug 14$112-0.5%8d
Fri, Aug 21$119+5.7%15d← 1st expiry after earnings (Thu, Aug 20)
Fri, Aug 28$111-1.4%22d
Fri, Sep 4$109-3.2%29d
Fri, Sep 11$110-2.3%36d
Fri, Sep 18$115+2.1%43d
Fri, Oct 16$115+2.1%71d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1116584103122141160$69M$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 — 111 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 28

spot111659810611412213510K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WMT open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 28.

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 28

spot1116598106114122135594594
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 28

spot7088106124142160134%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 28

spotflip 857099107115123140+$1.7M$1.7M
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 28

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.77-0.061060.03180.09-0.07-0.23
0.74-0.071070.03430.09-0.07-0.27
0.70-0.071080.03650.10-0.07-0.31
0.66-0.081090.03830.10-0.08-0.34
0.62-0.081100.03980.11-0.08-0.38
0.58-0.081110.04080.11-0.08-0.42
0.54-0.081120.04140.11-0.08-0.47
0.50-0.081130.04160.11-0.08-0.51
0.46-0.081140.04130.11-0.08-0.55
0.42-0.081150.04060.11-0.08-0.59
0.38-0.081160.03950.11-0.08-0.63
0.34-0.081170.03810.10-0.08-0.67
0.30-0.071180.03640.10-0.07-0.70
0.27-0.071190.03440.09-0.07-0.73
0.24-0.071200.03230.09-0.06-0.77

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 45 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