Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 6:19 PM ET

WSE max pain

Spot (delayed)$13.07
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$12.5-4.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.88±6.7% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.31261 puts / 840 calls
Call wall$17.5largest call OI
Put wall$12.5largest put OI
IV3048.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$5Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $15

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$12.5-4.3%6d
Fri, Sep 18$12.5-4.3%34d
Fri, Nov 20$10-23.5%97d
Fri, Feb 19$12.5-4.3%188d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12.53610131720$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 — 12.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot12.52.51012.51517.520387387
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WSE 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

spot12.52.51012.51517.52011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot101213151618146%41%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 46.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 151012.51517.520+$7K$7K
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
1.00-0.002.50.00080.00-0.00-0.00
0.95-0.01100.04560.00-0.01-0.05
0.72-0.0312.50.30090.01-0.03-0.28
0.11-0.02150.13550.00-0.02-0.90
0.04-0.0117.50.03890.00-0.01-0.97
0.02-0.01200.01700.00-0.01-0.99

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

spot7.51012.51517.5207520
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.51K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K 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: WSE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk