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

BFH max pain

Spot (delayed)$106.37
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$85-20.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$17.3±16.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.34108 puts / 316 calls
Call wall$85largest call OI
Put wall$90largest put OI
IV3034.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$26Kper 1% move

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 · 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, 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

spot85456891114137160$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 — 85 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot85457587.5100120160103103
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BFH 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

spot85457587.510012016011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot45689111413716094%36%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot458090105130+$10K$10K
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
0.87-0.0382.50.00770.12-0.03-0.13
0.85-0.03850.00870.13-0.03-0.15
0.82-0.0387.50.00990.14-0.03-0.17
0.80-0.04900.01110.15-0.04-0.20
0.77-0.0492.50.01240.17-0.04-0.23
0.74-0.04950.01380.18-0.04-0.26
0.66-0.041000.01630.20-0.04-0.34
0.57-0.041050.01820.21-0.04-0.43
0.48-0.041100.01890.22-0.04-0.52
0.39-0.041150.01830.21-0.04-0.61
0.32-0.041200.01680.20-0.04-0.69
0.20-0.031300.01270.15-0.03-0.81
0.16-0.031350.01080.14-0.03-0.85
0.13-0.031400.00920.12-0.03-0.88
0.06-0.011600.00470.07-0.02-0.96

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

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