Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 1:13 AM ET

BCPC max pain

Spot (delayed)$177
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$175-1.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.43±4.8% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.5997 puts / 164 calls
Call wall$175largest call OI
Put wall$175largest put OI
IV3020.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$78Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $175

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 20$175-1.1%25d
Fri, Feb 19$170-4.0%116d
Fri, May 21$165-6.8%207d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot175105130155180205230$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 — 175 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1751051251451701902305252
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BCPC open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot17510512514517019023022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot13015017019021023078%19%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 21.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 175105125145170190230+$22K−$22K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.041350.00280.04-0.04-0.04
0.95-0.041400.00360.05-0.04-0.04
0.94-0.041450.00480.06-0.04-0.06
0.93-0.051500.00640.07-0.05-0.07
0.87-0.061600.01240.10-0.06-0.13
0.82-0.071650.01780.13-0.07-0.18
0.74-0.071700.02600.16-0.07-0.26
0.60-0.071750.03560.19-0.07-0.40
0.41-0.071800.03800.19-0.07-0.59
0.26-0.061850.02960.16-0.06-0.74
0.17-0.051900.02070.13-0.06-0.84
0.12-0.051950.01440.10-0.05-0.89
0.09-0.042000.01040.08-0.04-0.92
0.04-0.032200.00380.04-0.03-0.97
0.03-0.022300.00260.03-0.02-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1201651801952301040
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

spot105125145165185210104104
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 308 call contracts, 148 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: BCPC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk