Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 9:49 AM ET

XRPZ max pain

Spot (delayed)$10.97
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$12+9.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.33±30.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.0562 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3051.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$6Kper 1% move

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$11+0.3%5d
Fri, Sep 18$13+18.5%33d
Fri, Dec 18$12+9.4%124d
Fri, Mar 19$6-45.3%215d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1291215192225$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 — 12 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot1291215182125541541
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)XRPZ 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

spot129121518212577
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot9121519222597%60%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 64.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot91215182125+$3K$3K
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
0.78-0.0090.07290.02-0.01-0.22
0.69-0.01100.08910.02-0.01-0.32
0.59-0.01110.09660.03-0.01-0.42
0.51-0.01120.09600.03-0.01-0.51
0.43-0.01130.09090.03-0.01-0.59
0.37-0.01140.08400.02-0.01-0.65
0.32-0.01150.07670.02-0.01-0.70
0.28-0.01160.06970.02-0.01-0.75
0.24-0.01170.06330.02-0.01-0.78
0.21-0.01180.05750.02-0.01-0.81

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot611151924309720
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

spot2814202632972972
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 443 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: XRPZ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk