Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 4:30 PM ET

WWD max pain

Spot (delayed)$370.5
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$360-2.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$28.85±7.8% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.39338 puts / 858 calls
Call wall$410largest call OI
Put wall$340largest put OI
IV3034.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$530Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $310

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$400+8.0%4d
Fri, Sep 18$360-2.8%32d
Fri, Oct 16$380+2.6%60d
Fri, Dec 18$360-2.8%123d
Fri, Jan 15$310-16.3%151d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot360260318376434492550$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 — 360 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot360260310360410460550459459
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WWD 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

spot36026031036041046055011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot26031837643449255068%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 32.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 310260310360410460550+$428K$428K
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
0.93-0.113000.00240.15-0.12-0.07
0.91-0.123100.00310.18-0.13-0.09
0.88-0.143200.00400.22-0.15-0.12
0.84-0.163300.00520.26-0.17-0.16
0.79-0.193400.00660.32-0.19-0.21
0.72-0.213500.00830.37-0.21-0.28
0.64-0.223600.00970.41-0.23-0.37
0.53-0.233700.01060.44-0.23-0.47
0.43-0.233800.01050.43-0.23-0.58
0.33-0.213900.00960.40-0.21-0.67
0.26-0.204000.00820.36-0.20-0.75
0.20-0.174100.00680.31-0.18-0.81
0.16-0.164200.00560.27-0.16-0.85
0.12-0.144300.00460.23-0.14-0.89
0.10-0.124400.00370.19-0.12-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 26 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2002803504204905606980
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

spot175230310390470550730730
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 2K 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: WWD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk