Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 7, 12:04 AM ET

XP max pain

Spot (delayed)$16.9
Max pain · Fri, Sep 4$17.5+3.6% vs spot
Put/Call OI13.5054 puts / 4 calls
Call wall$16.5largest call OI
Put wall$17largest put OI
IV3050.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$2Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 7$16-5.3%today
Fri, Aug 14$18.5+9.5%7d
Fri, Aug 21$18+6.5%14d
Fri, Aug 28$18+6.5%21d
Fri, Sep 4$17.5+3.6%28d
Fri, Sep 11$17.5+3.6%35d
Fri, Sep 18$18+6.5%42d
Fri, Nov 20$18+6.5%105d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot17.5141516171920$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, Sep 4

spot17.513.51516171819.52626
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)XP open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 4.

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 4

spot17.513.51516171819.511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot141516171920126%51%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 65.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot13.51516171819.5+$1K$1K
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 4

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.89-0.0113.50.05870.01-0.01-0.11
0.86-0.01140.07300.01-0.01-0.14
0.78-0.01150.10930.01-0.01-0.22
0.72-0.0115.50.12960.02-0.01-0.28
0.65-0.01160.14840.02-0.02-0.35
0.57-0.0216.50.16190.02-0.02-0.43
0.49-0.02170.16710.02-0.02-0.51
0.41-0.0217.50.16300.02-0.02-0.59
0.34-0.01180.15150.02-0.01-0.67
0.28-0.0118.50.13590.02-0.01-0.73
0.19-0.0119.50.10340.01-0.01-0.82
0.16-0.01200.08920.01-0.01-0.85

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

spot5111417203015K0
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

spot311.51620.52529.541K41K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 179K call contracts, 18K 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: XP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk