Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 11:12 AM ET

WWW max pain

Spot (delayed)$21.03
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$17.5-16.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.47±7.0% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI3.161K puts / 340 calls
Call wall$17.5largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3045.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$6Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $20

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$17.5-16.8%4d
Fri, Sep 18$17.5-16.8%32d
Fri, Dec 18$17.5-16.8%123d
Fri, Jan 15$20-4.9%151d
Fri, Mar 19$17.5-16.8%214d
Fri, Jan 21$7.5-64.3%522d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot17.53814192530$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 — 17.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot17.52.57.512.517.522.530716716
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WWW 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

spot17.52.57.512.517.522.530212212
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot131620232730210%41%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 52.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 2010152025+$5K$5K
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
1.002.5
1.005
1.007.50.00010.000.00
1.00100.00010.000.00
1.000.0012.50.00050.00-0.00-0.00
1.00-0.00150.00320.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.0117.50.02650.00-0.01-0.03
0.78-0.03200.23550.01-0.03-0.23
0.17-0.0322.50.16440.01-0.03-0.82
0.04-0.01250.04210.00-0.01-0.96
0.01-0.00300.00600.00-0.00-0.99

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

spot2.51017.525404440
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

spot2.51017.525401K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K 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: WWW workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk