Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:49 PM ET

BIB max pain

Spot (delayed)$110.32
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$98-11.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$17.55±15.9% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI2.004 puts / 2 calls
Call wall$112largest call OI
Put wall$95largest put OI
IV3054.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$207per 1% move

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$100-9.4%25d
Fri, Dec 18$98-11.2%53d
Fri, Feb 19$90-18.4%116d
Fri, May 21$109-1.2%207d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot989598102105109112$1M$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 — 98 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot989596979811222
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BIB 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

spot989596979811211
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot959810210510911254%51%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 51.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot95969798112+$428−$428
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
0.80-0.06950.01220.12-0.06-0.20
0.78-0.06960.01270.13-0.06-0.21
0.77-0.06970.01320.13-0.06-0.23
0.76-0.06980.01370.14-0.06-0.24
0.52-0.081120.01760.17-0.08-0.48

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot5084931121351120
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

spot40758799111135112112
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 600 call contracts, 154 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: BIB workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk