Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 12, 4:24 AM ET

BFH max pain

Spot (delayed)$106.37
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$90-15.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.3±14.4% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI5.102K puts / 303 calls
Call wall$100largest call OI
Put wall$80largest put OI
IV3034.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$62Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $35

Event risk before this expiration: 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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Sep 18$100-6.0%6d
Fri, Oct 16$95-10.7%34d
Fri, Nov 20$90-15.4%69d
Fri, Dec 18$85-20.1%97d
Fri, Mar 19$60-43.6%188d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot9030527496118140$7M$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 — 90 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot903047.570851001251K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BFH 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

spot903047.5708510012511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot30527496118140164%36%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 41.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 353057.57590110135+$76K$76K
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
0.88-0.0482.50.00770.09-0.04-0.12
0.87-0.04850.00890.10-0.04-0.13
0.85-0.0487.50.01030.11-0.04-0.15
0.82-0.04900.01180.12-0.04-0.18
0.79-0.0492.50.01360.13-0.04-0.21
0.76-0.04950.01550.14-0.04-0.24
0.68-0.051000.01950.17-0.05-0.33
0.57-0.051050.02240.18-0.05-0.43
0.46-0.051100.02290.18-0.05-0.54
0.35-0.051150.02110.17-0.05-0.65
0.28-0.041200.01820.15-0.04-0.72
0.22-0.041250.01520.14-0.04-0.79
0.17-0.041300.01260.12-0.04-0.83
0.14-0.031350.01050.10-0.04-0.86
0.12-0.031400.00870.09-0.03-0.89

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

spot3067.58597.5120670
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

spot305070901201602K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 831 call contracts, 4K 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: BFH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk