Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 9:47 PM ET

YCL max pain

Spot (delayed)$17.91
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$10-44.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.1±11.7% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.08268 puts / 3K calls
Call wall$27largest call OI
Put wall$14largest put OI
IV3022.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$74Kper 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$17-5.1%5d
Fri, Sep 18$15-16.3%33d
Fri, Dec 18$10-44.2%124d
Fri, Mar 19$8-55.3%215d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1091316202327$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 — 10 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot1091215182125456456
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)YCL 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

spot109121518212555
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot13161921242790%19%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot91215182125+$23K$23K
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
0.970.00110.01370.01-0.00-0.03
0.96-0.00120.01940.01-0.00-0.04
0.94-0.00130.02790.01-0.00-0.06
0.92-0.00140.04110.02-0.00-0.08
0.89-0.00150.06240.02-0.00-0.11
0.83-0.00160.09780.03-0.00-0.17
0.73-0.00170.15380.04-0.00-0.28
0.56-0.00180.20350.04-0.00-0.46
0.38-0.00190.18020.04-0.00-0.66
0.27-0.00200.13400.04-0.00-0.78
0.20-0.00210.09990.03-0.00-0.85
0.16-0.00220.07710.03-0.00-0.90
0.13-0.00230.06150.02-0.00-0.92
0.10-0.00250.04230.02-0.00-0.96
0.08-0.00270.03130.01-0.00-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 17 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot912151821252K0
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

spot8121620242K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K call contracts, 358 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: YCL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk