Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 2:50 AM ET

BBDC max pain

Spot (delayed)$9.43
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$10+6.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.92±9.8% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI6.441K puts / 195 calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$7.5largest put OI
IV3022.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$6Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$7.5-20.5%5d
Fri, Sep 18$10+6.0%33d
Fri, Dec 18$10+6.0%124d
Fri, Mar 19$7.5-20.5%215d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot10369121518$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 — 10 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot102.57.512.517.51K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BBDC open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 18.

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, Sep 18

spot102.57.512.517.511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot2.557.51012.515+$11K$11K
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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.002.50.00280.00-0.00-0.01
1.0050.00630.00-0.00-0.02
0.97-0.007.50.05630.00-0.00-0.08
0.18-0.00100.42460.01-0.00-0.86
0.02-0.0012.50.03820.00-0.98
0.010.00150.01270.00-0.99
0.010.0017.50.00610.00-0.99

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

spot2.57.51012.56050
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

spot2.57.512.517.52K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 839 call contracts, 2K 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: BBDC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk