Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 3:33 AM ET

BBW max pain

Spot (delayed)$23.78
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$25+5.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.63±32.1% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.26525 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$45largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3057.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$16Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $17.5

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$25+5.1%24d
Fri, Dec 18$30+26.2%52d
Fri, Mar 19$25+5.1%143d
Thu, Jun 17$25+5.1%233d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot25152229364350$2M$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 — 25 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot251522.53037.545956956
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BBW 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

spot251522.53037.54566
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot15222936435089%56%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 62.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 17.51522.53037.545+$9K−$9K
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
0.90-0.01150.01690.03-0.01-0.10
0.83-0.0117.50.02520.04-0.01-0.17
0.74-0.01200.03330.05-0.01-0.26
0.64-0.0122.50.03940.06-0.01-0.36
0.54-0.01250.04240.06-0.01-0.47
0.44-0.0127.50.04240.06-0.01-0.57
0.36-0.01300.04000.06-0.01-0.66
0.29-0.0132.50.03630.05-0.01-0.73
0.23-0.01350.03210.04-0.01-0.79
0.18-0.0137.50.02790.04-0.01-0.84
0.15-0.01400.02400.03-0.01-0.88
0.12-0.0142.50.02050.03-0.01-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 15 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1522.53037.545552K0
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

spot12.52027.53542.5502K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K 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: BBW workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk