Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 9:40 AM ET

BAP max pain

Spot (delayed)$372.5
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$380+2.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$57.75±15.5% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.88226 puts / 257 calls
Call wall$390largest call OI
Put wall$380largest put OI
IV3036.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$41Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $310

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 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$340-8.7%8d
Fri, Sep 18$380+2.0%36d
Fri, Nov 20$380+2.0%99d
Fri, Feb 19$390+4.7%190d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot380175238301364427490$4M$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 — 380 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot380175200300350410470157157
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BAP open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot38017520030035041047011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot17523830136442749090%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 310175200300350410470+$114K$114K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.87-0.063000.00250.41-0.09-0.13
0.84-0.073100.00300.47-0.10-0.16
0.81-0.093200.00340.53-0.10-0.19
0.77-0.103300.00390.59-0.11-0.23
0.73-0.113400.00440.65-0.12-0.28
0.68-0.123500.00490.70-0.13-0.32
0.63-0.133600.00520.74-0.13-0.38
0.52-0.133800.00560.78-0.14-0.49
0.46-0.133900.00570.77-0.13-0.55
0.41-0.134000.00560.76-0.13-0.60
0.36-0.134100.00540.73-0.12-0.66
0.31-0.124200.00510.69-0.11-0.71
0.27-0.114300.00470.65-0.10-0.75
0.23-0.104400.00440.60-0.10-0.79
0.20-0.104500.00400.55-0.09-0.83

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 27 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2703203604004404901K0
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

spot1702203003804605401K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 747 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: BAP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk