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

BA max pain

Spot (delayed)$212.56
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$215+1.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$19.05±9.0% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI1.1015K puts / 14K calls
Call wall$240largest call OI
Put wall$200largest put OI
IV3028.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$2.2Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $140

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 — 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

spot215115160205250295340$144M$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 — 215 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot2151151551952352753157K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BA open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 16.

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 16

spot215115155195235275315440440
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot11516020525029534077%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 29.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 140115155195235275315+$4.4M$4.4M
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 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.93-0.031800.00520.11-0.03-0.07
0.90-0.041850.00710.14-0.04-0.10
0.86-0.051900.00920.18-0.06-0.15
0.80-0.061950.01140.22-0.07-0.20
0.74-0.072000.01360.26-0.08-0.27
0.66-0.082050.01540.29-0.09-0.34
0.58-0.092100.01660.31-0.09-0.42
0.50-0.092150.01700.32-0.09-0.51
0.42-0.092200.01670.31-0.09-0.60
0.34-0.082250.01570.29-0.09-0.68
0.27-0.072300.01410.26-0.08-0.75
0.21-0.072350.01230.23-0.07-0.82
0.16-0.062400.01030.20-0.06-0.87
0.12-0.052450.00850.16-0.05-0.91
0.09-0.042500.00680.13-0.04-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 45 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