Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 11:13 AM ET

WWW max pain

Spot (delayed)$19.79
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$17.5-11.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.28±31.7% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.16899 puts / 778 calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV3047.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$8Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $25

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$17.5-11.6%3d
Fri, Sep 18$17.5-11.6%31d
Fri, Dec 18$17.5-11.6%122d
Fri, Jan 15$20+1.0%150d
Fri, Mar 19$17.5-11.6%213d
Fri, Jan 21$7.5-62.1%521d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot17.531120283745$2M$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, Dec 18

spot17.52.51017.52540304304
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WWW open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 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, Dec 18

spot17.52.51017.5254011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot51321293745193%47%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 67.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 25512.5203045+$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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.000.002.50.00110.00-0.00-0.01
1.00-0.0050.00290.01-0.00-0.02
0.98-0.007.50.00600.01-0.01-0.04
0.95-0.00100.01110.01-0.01-0.06
0.91-0.0112.50.01940.02-0.01-0.11
0.85-0.01150.03220.03-0.01-0.17
0.74-0.0117.50.04890.04-0.01-0.28
0.60-0.01200.06220.04-0.01-0.43
0.45-0.0122.50.06320.05-0.01-0.59
0.34-0.01250.05560.04-0.01-0.71
0.21-0.01300.03860.03-0.01-0.84
0.14-0.01350.02740.03-0.01-0.92
0.10-0.01400.02030.02-0.01-0.97
0.08-0.01450.01580.02-0.01-0.99

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

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