Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 16, 11:46 PM ET

WPP max pain

Spot (delayed)$26.91
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$25-7.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.95±11.0% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI18.80827 puts / 44 calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3044.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$41Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: 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 21$17.5-35.0%5d
Fri, Sep 18$25-7.1%33d
Fri, Nov 20$17.5-35.0%96d
Fri, Dec 18$17.5-35.0%124d
Fri, Feb 19$20-25.7%187d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot25151821242730$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 — 25 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot251517.52022.52530642642
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WPP 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

spot251517.52022.5253033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot151821242730129%26%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot1517.52022.52530+$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 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.01150.00560.00-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.0117.50.01090.01-0.01-0.03
0.94-0.01200.02190.01-0.01-0.06
0.87-0.0122.50.04490.02-0.01-0.13
0.73-0.02250.08550.03-0.02-0.28
0.25-0.02300.08470.03-0.02-0.77

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.57.512.517.522.5302K0
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

spot2.51017.525403K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 3K 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: WPP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk