Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 12:42 AM ET

BDC max pain

Spot (delayed)$104.15
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$105+0.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$16.3±15.7% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.32356 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$200largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3049.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$73Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $115

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$110+5.6%27d
Fri, Dec 18$105+0.8%55d
Fri, Mar 19$105+0.8%146d
Thu, Jun 17$105+0.8%236d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1056088116144172200$6M$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 — 105 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot1056085110135160185301301
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BDC open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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, Dec 18

spot105608511013516018522
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot608811614417220097%44%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 50.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 1156085110135160185+$30K−$30K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.02700.00370.04-0.02-0.05
0.93-0.03750.00520.06-0.03-0.07
0.90-0.04800.00730.07-0.04-0.10
0.85-0.04850.01000.09-0.05-0.14
0.80-0.05900.01310.12-0.05-0.20
0.72-0.06950.01620.14-0.06-0.28
0.63-0.071000.01870.15-0.07-0.37
0.53-0.071050.01980.16-0.07-0.47
0.43-0.071100.01960.16-0.07-0.57
0.35-0.071150.01810.15-0.07-0.65
0.28-0.061200.01610.14-0.06-0.72
0.23-0.061250.01390.12-0.06-0.78
0.18-0.051300.01180.11-0.05-0.83
0.15-0.051350.01000.09-0.05-0.86
0.12-0.041400.00850.08-0.04-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 29 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot60851101351601856480
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

spot5580105130155180650650
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 731 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: BDC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk