Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 11:49 PM ET

WPM max pain

Spot (delayed)$134.21
Max pain · Fri, Sep 4$115-14.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.4±8.5% by Fri, Sep 4
Put/Call OI0.47170 puts / 362 calls
Call wall$135largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3043.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$99Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $90

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$115-14.3%5d
Fri, Aug 28$110-18.0%12d
Fri, Sep 4$115-14.3%19d
Fri, Sep 11$113-15.8%26d
Fri, Sep 18$125-6.9%33d
Fri, Sep 25$130-3.1%40d
Fri, Oct 2$135+0.6%47d
Fri, Oct 16$125-6.9%61d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1158096112128144160$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 — 115 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot115801051141221311507676
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WPM open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 4.

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 4

spot115801051141221311501010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot8096112128144160119%39%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 44.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spotflip 9080104113120127135+$39K$39K
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 4

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.75-0.111260.02270.10-0.11-0.25
0.73-0.111270.02390.11-0.11-0.28
0.68-0.121290.02600.12-0.12-0.33
0.65-0.121300.02690.12-0.12-0.36
0.62-0.131310.02760.12-0.13-0.38
0.59-0.131320.02820.13-0.13-0.41
0.56-0.131330.02860.13-0.13-0.44
0.53-0.131340.02880.13-0.13-0.47
0.51-0.131350.02880.13-0.13-0.50
0.37-0.131400.02670.12-0.13-0.64
0.26-0.111450.02220.10-0.12-0.74
0.25-0.111460.02130.10-0.11-0.76
0.18-0.101500.01740.09-0.10-0.82
0.13-0.081550.01320.07-0.08-0.88
0.09-0.071600.00990.05-0.07-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 43 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot801051141221311401K0
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

spot50801081351651958K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 49K call contracts, 60K 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: WPM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk