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

WMT max pain

Spot (delayed)$113.08
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$115+1.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.78±8.6% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.6973K puts / 106K calls
Call wall$120largest call OI
Put wall$105largest put OI
IV3031.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2.3Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $135
Earnings · expectedThu, Aug 20usually before the open

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — 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

spot1154877107136166195$648M$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 — 115 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot11547.5759512015018021K21K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WMT open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 18.

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, Sep 18

spot11547.575951201501801K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot4877107136166195107%28%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 135508097.5125155185+$5.7M$5.7M
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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.01900.00470.03-0.01-0.03
0.96-0.0192.50.00660.04-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.01950.00930.05-0.02-0.06
0.91-0.0297.50.01270.06-0.02-0.09
0.87-0.031000.01680.08-0.03-0.13
0.76-0.041050.02560.12-0.04-0.24
0.61-0.051100.03210.15-0.05-0.39
0.45-0.051150.03340.15-0.05-0.56
0.29-0.051200.02930.14-0.05-0.72
0.18-0.041250.02200.10-0.03-0.84
0.10-0.021300.01480.07-0.02-0.91
0.06-0.021350.00950.05-0.01-0.95
0.04-0.011400.00610.03-0.01-0.98
0.02-0.011450.00400.02-0.01-0.99
0.02-0.011500.00280.02-0.02-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 34 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