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

YCS max pain

Spot (delayed)$54.75
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$51-6.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.1±9.3% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI1.4489 puts / 62 calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$47largest put OI
IV3021.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$10Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $55

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$54-1.4%4d
Fri, Sep 18$51-6.8%32d
Fri, Nov 20$55+0.5%95d
Fri, Feb 19$54-1.4%186d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot51474951545658$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 — 51 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot5147515456588080
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)YCS open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 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, Sep 18

spot51475154565811
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot47495154565865%13%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 27.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 554751545658+$13K$13K
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 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.88-0.02470.02840.03-0.02-0.13
0.82-0.02500.04810.04-0.02-0.19
0.78-0.02510.05860.05-0.02-0.22
0.67-0.02530.08900.06-0.02-0.33
0.58-0.02540.10540.07-0.02-0.42
0.48-0.02550.11160.07-0.02-0.52
0.37-0.02560.10170.06-0.02-0.62
0.30-0.02570.08540.06-0.02-0.70
0.24-0.02580.07040.05-0.02-0.75

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

spot42475257621390
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

spot304349556175361361
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 680 call contracts, 1K 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: YCS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk