Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 16, 3:53 PM ET

XNET max pain

Spot (delayed)$5.25
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$5-4.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.78±33.8% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.352K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$3largest put OI
IV3071.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$11Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $3

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$5-4.8%4d
Fri, Sep 18$5-4.8%32d
Fri, Dec 18$5-4.8%123d
Fri, Jan 15$5-4.8%151d
Fri, Mar 19$5-4.8%214d
Fri, Jan 21$5-4.8%522d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot5257101215$3M$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot5246810154K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)XNET open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot5246810151515
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot358101315131%54%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 67.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 324681015+$9K$9K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.970.0020.01860.000.00-0.02
0.94-0.0030.05310.00-0.00-0.06
0.82-0.0040.12890.01-0.00-0.17
0.64-0.0050.17630.01-0.00-0.36
0.48-0.0060.16990.01-0.00-0.52
0.37-0.0070.14890.01-0.00-0.64
0.29-0.0080.12770.01-0.00-0.72
0.23-0.0090.10930.01-0.00-0.78
0.19-0.00100.09390.01-0.00-0.82
0.14-0.00120.07040.01-0.00-0.89
0.09-0.00150.04770.01-0.00-0.95

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

spot3579111K0
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

spot1471013165K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 8K 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: XNET workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk