Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 21, 3:59 AM ET

BJ max pain

Spot (delayed)$92.03
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$100+8.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$13.1±14.2% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.723K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$100largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3027.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$179Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $45

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Oct 16$100+8.7%25d
Fri, Nov 20$90-2.2%60d
Fri, Jan 15$100+8.7%116d
Fri, Feb 19$90-2.2%151d
Fri, May 21$105+14.1%242d
Thu, Jun 17$85-7.6%269d
Fri, Jan 21$80-13.1%487d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot100406794121148175$26M$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 — 100 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1004065901151401651K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BJ open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot1004065901151401651515
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot406794121148175107%28%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 45406590115140165+$132K$132K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.01550.00200.03-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.01600.00310.04-0.01-0.03
0.95-0.01650.00470.06-0.01-0.05
0.93-0.01700.00700.08-0.01-0.08
0.89-0.01750.01040.10-0.02-0.12
0.83-0.02800.01470.14-0.02-0.18
0.74-0.02850.01950.17-0.02-0.27
0.63-0.03900.02360.20-0.03-0.39
0.51-0.03950.02550.21-0.03-0.52
0.39-0.031000.02460.20-0.03-0.65
0.29-0.021050.02170.18-0.03-0.77
0.21-0.021100.01790.15-0.02-0.86
0.15-0.021150.01420.13-0.02-0.93
0.11-0.011200.01100.10-0.01-0.98
0.08-0.011250.00840.08-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 28 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot4070951201451703K0
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

spot4065901151401653K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 8K call contracts, 7K 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: BJ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk