Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 2:10 AM ET

BBD max pain

Spot (delayed)$3.11
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$4+28.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.1±35.4% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI3.9129K puts / 7K calls
Call wall$7largest call OI
Put wall$4largest put OI
IV3045.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$60Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $2

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 · 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, Aug 21$3-3.5%3d
Fri, Sep 18$3-3.5%31d
Fri, Oct 16$3-3.5%59d
Fri, Dec 18$3-3.5%122d
Fri, Jan 15$3-3.5%150d
Fri, Mar 19$1-67.8%213d
Thu, Jun 17$3-3.5%303d
Fri, Jan 21$4+28.6%521d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot4123467$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 — 4 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot40.5234579K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BBD open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 21.

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, Jan 21

spot40.52345720K20K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot123567347%39%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 141.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spotflip 212.53.54.55.5+$23K$23K
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, Jan 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.000.50.00520.000.00-0.02
0.970.0010.02790.000.00-0.07
0.880.0020.13600.010.00-0.18
0.780.002.50.22310.010.00-0.28
0.640.0030.29020.010.00-0.42
0.510.003.50.30880.010.00-0.55
0.400.0040.29010.010.00-0.65
0.320.004.50.25870.010.00-0.72
0.260.0050.22630.010.00-0.78
0.210.005.50.19660.010.00-0.83
0.120.0070.12900.010.00-0.96

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

spot1234565K0
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

spot0.523.55729K29K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 77K call contracts, 68K 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: BBD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk