Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 12:04 AM ET

XENE max pain

Spot (delayed)$65
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$50-23.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.8±22.8% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.2659 puts / 229 calls
Call wall$80largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV3048.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$13Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $45

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$67.5+3.8%4d
Fri, Sep 18$55-15.4%32d
Fri, Oct 16$50-23.1%60d
Fri, Dec 18$50-23.1%123d
Fri, Jan 15$52.5-19.2%151d
Fri, Jan 21$55-15.4%522d
Fri, Dec 15$55-15.4%851d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot502037547188105$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 — 50 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot502037.547.557.570906767
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)XENE 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

spot502037.547.557.5709033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot2037547188105115%44%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 48.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 452037.550607595+$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
0.86-0.0147.50.00930.09-0.02-0.14
0.83-0.02500.01100.10-0.02-0.17
0.80-0.0252.50.01280.11-0.02-0.20
0.76-0.02550.01470.12-0.02-0.23
0.72-0.0257.50.01660.13-0.03-0.28
0.68-0.02600.01840.14-0.03-0.32
0.63-0.0362.50.01990.14-0.03-0.37
0.57-0.03650.02100.15-0.03-0.43
0.47-0.03700.02180.15-0.03-0.54
0.37-0.03750.02090.14-0.02-0.64
0.29-0.02800.01870.13-0.02-0.72
0.22-0.02850.01620.12-0.02-0.79
0.17-0.02900.01360.10-0.01-0.84
0.14-0.02950.01130.08-0.01-0.89
0.11-0.011000.00940.07-0.01-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 24 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot355062.5759010K0
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

spot2032.54557.5708510K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 20K call contracts, 6K 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: XENE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk