Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 3:10 PM ET

WT max pain

Spot (delayed)$22.87
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$20-12.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.88±3.8% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.08216 puts / 3K calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$17.5largest put OI
IV3039.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$181Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $15

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$20-12.5%6d
Fri, Sep 18$15-34.4%34d
Fri, Dec 18$15-34.4%125d
Fri, Mar 19$15-34.4%216d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot203712162125$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot202.57.517.522.52K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WT 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

spot202.57.517.522.511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot181921222425113%19%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 31.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 151517.52022.525+$141K$141K
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
1.00-0.002.50.0001-0.000.00
1.00-0.0050.0001-0.000.00
1.00-0.007.50.00030.00-0.00-0.00
1.00-0.00150.00330.00-0.00-0.00
0.99-0.0117.50.01070.00-0.01-0.01
0.95-0.01200.05110.00-0.01-0.05
0.63-0.0422.50.27890.01-0.04-0.37
0.15-0.03250.12560.01-0.03-0.85

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

spot5101520253511K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.53011K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 34K call contracts, 730 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: WT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk