Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 4:27 AM ET

BCAX max pain

Spot (delayed)$17.48
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$22.5+28.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.5±31.5% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI13.621K puts / 94 calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV30103.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$19Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $17.5

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 20$17.5+0.1%23d
Fri, Dec 18$22.5+28.7%51d
Fri, Jan 15$22.5+28.7%79d
Fri, Mar 19$25+43.0%142d
Fri, Apr 16$20+14.4%170d
Fri, Dec 17$25+43.0%415d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot22.531018253340$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 — 22.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot22.52.515202535726726
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BCAX open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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 15

spot22.52.51520253511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot31018253340201%65%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 85.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 17.52.517.522.53040+$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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.012.50.00190.00-0.01-0.02
0.89-0.01100.01750.01-0.01-0.11
0.72-0.01150.04590.03-0.01-0.28
0.59-0.0217.50.05530.03-0.02-0.41
0.46-0.02200.05400.03-0.02-0.54
0.37-0.0222.50.04850.03-0.02-0.63
0.31-0.02250.04260.03-0.02-0.70
0.22-0.02300.03280.02-0.02-0.79
0.16-0.01350.02570.02-0.01-0.85
0.13-0.01400.02060.02-0.01-0.89

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

spot2.5152025352K0
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

spot2.51017.525402K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 3K 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: BCAX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk