Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 2:40 AM ET

YMM max pain

Spot (delayed)$8.81
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$10+13.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.48±16.7% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.9410K puts / 11K calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3046.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$9Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

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$7.5-14.9%6d
Fri, Sep 18$10+13.5%34d
Fri, Dec 18$7.5-14.9%125d
Fri, Mar 19$12.5+41.9%216d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot105810131518$8M$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, Sep 18

spot1057.51012.51517.510K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)YMM 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

spot1057.51012.51517.522
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot5810131518183%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 46.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 7.557.51012.51517.5+$14K$14K
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
0.95-0.0050.02880.00-0.00-0.04
0.82-0.017.50.15240.01-0.01-0.18
0.23-0.01100.22130.01-0.01-0.77
0.08-0.0012.50.07360.00-0.00-0.93
0.04-0.00150.03710.00-0.00-0.96
0.03-0.0017.50.02290.00-0.00-0.98

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

spot57.51012.51517.512K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.512K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 14K call contracts, 11K 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: YMM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk