Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 11:48 PM ET

WT max pain

Spot (delayed)$22.81
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$15-34.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.95±8.5% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.02341 puts / 15K calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$17.5largest put OI
IV3037.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$341Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

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$20-12.3%5d
Fri, Sep 18$15-34.2%33d
Fri, Dec 18$15-34.2%124d
Fri, Mar 19$15-34.2%215d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot153712162125$12M$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot152.512.517.522.59K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WT 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

spot152.512.517.522.52929
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot15171921232583%30%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 7.52.512.517.522.5+$144K$144K
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
1.00-0.012.50.00060.00-0.00-0.00
0.99-0.017.50.00240.00-0.01-0.01
0.97-0.0112.50.00770.00-0.01-0.02
0.96-0.01150.01470.01-0.01-0.04
0.93-0.0117.50.03110.01-0.01-0.07
0.83-0.01200.07360.02-0.01-0.16
0.57-0.0122.50.14440.03-0.01-0.42
0.27-0.01250.11020.02-0.01-0.73

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