Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 7:29 PM ET

BHF max pain

Spot (delayed)$44.9
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$52.5+16.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.63±12.5% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.382K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$70largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3065.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$293per 1% move · flip ≈ $70

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$52.5+16.9%25d
Fri, Dec 18$50+11.4%53d
Fri, Jan 15$60+33.6%81d
Fri, Feb 19$50+11.4%116d
Fri, Mar 19$45+0.2%144d
Fri, Apr 16$47.5+5.8%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot52.5303846546270$3M$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 — 52.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot52.5304552.560701K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BHF 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

spot52.5304552.560703030
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot303846546270150%47%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 59.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 70304552.56070+$80K−$80K
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
1.00-0.00300.00260.00-0.00-0.01
0.95-0.02350.01500.01-0.02-0.06
0.80-0.04400.03720.03-0.04-0.21
0.56-0.06450.05180.05-0.06-0.46
0.43-0.0647.50.05150.05-0.06-0.59
0.32-0.05500.04670.04-0.06-0.71
0.22-0.0452.50.03900.04-0.05-0.81
0.15-0.03550.03040.03-0.04-0.89
0.09-0.0357.50.02210.02-0.03-0.95
0.06-0.02600.01520.01-0.02-0.99
0.03-0.0162.50.01000.01-0.02-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 13 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot25405057.5658020K0
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

spot2537.547.557.5709025K25K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 48K call contracts, 22K 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: BHF workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk