Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 3:08 AM ET

BABX max pain

Spot (delayed)$13.79
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$15+8.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.93±43.0% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.25136 puts / 543 calls
Call wall$35largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3085.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $15

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Nov 20$16+16.0%26d
Fri, Dec 18$15+8.8%54d
Fri, Mar 19$15+8.8%145d
Thu, Jun 17$13-5.7%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1551117232935$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot15513172125309797
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BABX open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

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, Mar 19

spot155131721253055
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot5111723293597%75%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 86.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 1551418222635+$547−$547
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.0050.00880.01-0.00-0.04
0.85-0.0190.03010.02-0.01-0.14
0.80-0.01100.03640.02-0.01-0.19
0.70-0.01120.04650.03-0.01-0.29
0.65-0.01130.04980.03-0.01-0.35
0.59-0.01140.05180.03-0.01-0.40
0.54-0.01150.05290.03-0.01-0.45
0.50-0.01160.05300.04-0.01-0.50
0.45-0.01170.05250.03-0.01-0.54
0.41-0.01180.05140.03-0.01-0.58
0.38-0.01190.05000.03-0.01-0.62
0.34-0.01200.04820.03-0.01-0.65
0.32-0.01210.04630.03-0.01-0.68

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot514202632402530
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

spot51218243036356356
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K 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: BABX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk