Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 27, 3:22 AM ET

BA max pain

Spot (delayed)$212.56
Max pain · Fri, Oct 2$210-1.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$16.1±7.6% by Fri, Oct 2
Put/Call OI0.58787 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$240largest call OI
Put wall$205largest put OI
IV3028.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$221Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $165

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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 28$215+1.1%1d
Fri, Sep 4$217.5+2.3%8d
Fri, Sep 11$215+1.1%15d
Fri, Sep 18$220+3.5%22d
Fri, Sep 25$215+1.1%29d
Fri, Oct 2$210-1.2%36d
Fri, Oct 16$215+1.1%50d
Fri, Nov 20$230+8.2%85d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot210160187214241268295$9M$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 — 210 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot210160180200220240260535535
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BA open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 2.

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, Oct 2

spot2101601802002202402603030
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot16018721424126829573%26%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 29.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spotflip 165160180200220240260+$233K$233K
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, Oct 2

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.031800.00450.07-0.03-0.05
0.93-0.041850.00650.10-0.04-0.07
0.89-0.051900.00910.13-0.05-0.11
0.83-0.071950.01220.17-0.07-0.17
0.76-0.082000.01520.21-0.09-0.24
0.68-0.102050.01780.24-0.10-0.33
0.58-0.102100.01950.26-0.11-0.42
0.48-0.112150.02000.27-0.11-0.53
0.39-0.102200.01930.26-0.10-0.63
0.30-0.092250.01740.23-0.10-0.72
0.23-0.082300.01500.20-0.08-0.79
0.17-0.072350.01230.17-0.07-0.86
0.12-0.062400.00980.14-0.06-0.90
0.09-0.042450.00760.11-0.05-0.94
0.07-0.042500.00590.09-0.05-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 24 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1301802052252452755K0
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

spot65130192.522526032539K39K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 380K call contracts, 347K 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: BA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk