Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 7, 4:01 PM ET

BHP max pain

Spot (delayed)$90.16
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$75-16.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.7±10.8% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.5616K puts / 29K calls
Call wall$95largest call OI
Put wall$72.5largest put OI
IV3039.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3.1Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $70

Event risk before this expiration: CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$85-5.7%14d
Fri, Sep 18$75-16.8%42d
Fri, Nov 20$82.5-8.5%105d
Fri, Dec 18$82.5-8.5%133d
Fri, Jan 15$60-33.5%161d
Fri, Feb 19$85-5.7%196d
Fri, Mar 19$90-0.2%224d
Thu, Jun 17$75-16.8%314d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7525476991113135$144M$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 — 75 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot75254562.58097.51307K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BHP open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 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, Sep 18

spot75254562.58097.51301K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot38577796116135124%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 703045607590110+$1.9M$1.9M
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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.0272.50.00860.03-0.03-0.09
0.92-0.03750.01200.04-0.03-0.12
0.89-0.0377.50.01630.05-0.04-0.16
0.84-0.04800.02130.07-0.04-0.21
0.78-0.0582.50.02670.09-0.05-0.27
0.71-0.06850.03150.10-0.05-0.34
0.62-0.0687.50.03510.11-0.06-0.43
0.53-0.06900.03670.12-0.06-0.51
0.44-0.0692.50.03610.12-0.05-0.59
0.36-0.06950.03370.11-0.05-0.67
0.29-0.0597.50.03010.10-0.05-0.73
0.23-0.041000.02600.09-0.04-0.79
0.14-0.031050.01820.07-0.03-0.87
0.09-0.021100.01220.05-0.02-0.92
0.05-0.021150.00810.03-0.02-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 37 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot47.56072.58597.512015K0
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

spot2542.56077.59512535K35K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 91K call contracts, 88K 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: BHP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk