Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 2, 6:42 PM ET

BBWI max pain

Spot (delayed)$23.28
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$20-14.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.2±26.6% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.45884 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$12.5largest put OI
IV3064.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$34Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

Event risk before this expiration: 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 6$20-14.1%4d
Fri, Nov 13$21-9.8%11d
Fri, Nov 20one strike decides18d
Fri, Nov 27$19-18.4%25d
Fri, Dec 4too thin32d
Fri, Dec 11too thin39d
Fri, Dec 18$20-14.1%46d
Fri, Jan 15one strike decides74d
Fri, Feb 19one strike decides109d
Fri, Mar 19$20-14.1%137d
Fri, May 21$20-14.1%200d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2051117232935$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot20512.52027.535857857
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BBWI 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

spot2017.522.52527.53032.53232
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot51117232935125%54%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 56.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 7.5512.52027.535+$24K−$24K
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
1.00—50.00100.00-0.00-0.01
1.00—7.50.00090.00-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.00100.00480.01-0.00-0.03
0.96-0.0012.50.01110.01-0.00-0.05
0.91-0.01150.01870.02-0.01-0.10
0.83-0.0117.50.02950.04-0.01-0.17
0.73-0.01200.04030.05-0.01-0.28
0.61-0.0122.50.04800.05-0.01-0.40
0.49-0.01250.05070.06-0.01-0.52
0.38-0.0127.50.04870.05-0.01-0.63
0.28-0.01300.04350.05-0.01-0.72
0.21-0.0132.50.03680.04-0.01-0.80
0.15-0.01350.03000.03-0.01-0.87

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

spot61719.52224.532.54K0
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

spot2.51217.52226.53510K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 51K call contracts, 27K 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.

Max pain, walls and gamma print only when an expiration holds at least 100 open contracts across 5 strikes, and max pain also needs to stay within 5% of spot when its single heaviest strike is removed. Below that the expiration reads as thin rather than printing a level one trade could move.

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: BBWI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk