Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 16, 11:31 PM ET

BCPC max pain

Spot (delayed)$178.51
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$160-10.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$23.95±13.4% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.9728 puts / 29 calls
Call wall$195largest call OI
Put wall$110largest put OI
IV3021.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$9Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $170

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Aug 21$170-4.8%5d
Fri, Sep 18$170-4.8%33d
Fri, Nov 20$175-2.0%96d
Fri, Feb 19$160-10.4%187d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot160110128146164182200$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 — 160 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot1601101201301601951515
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BCPC open contracts per strike for Fri, Feb 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, Feb 19

spot16011012013016019511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot11012814616418220045%22%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 170110120130160195+$6K$6K
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, Feb 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.001100.00110.07-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.011150.00140.08-0.01-0.03
0.96-0.011200.00180.10-0.01-0.04
0.95-0.011250.00230.12-0.01-0.05
0.94-0.011300.00290.15-0.01-0.06
0.92-0.011350.00360.18-0.01-0.08
0.77-0.031600.00910.38-0.03-0.23
0.67-0.031700.01150.46-0.03-0.34
0.35-0.031950.01290.47-0.03-0.67
0.30-0.032000.01200.44-0.03-0.73

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

spot1501651751851952204590
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

spot105125145165185210459459
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 903 call contracts, 170 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 · GEX, defined · pin risk