Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 28, 11:49 PM ET

BKD max pain

Spot (delayed)$11.72
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$12+2.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.88±24.5% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.472K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$12largest put OI
IV3036.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $9

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · 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$11-6.1%21d
Fri, Oct 16$13+10.9%49d
Fri, Dec 18$12+2.4%112d
Fri, Jan 15$12+2.4%140d
Fri, Feb 19$15+28.0%175d
Thu, Jun 17$15+28.0%293d
Fri, Dec 17$8-31.7%476d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot123712162125$5M$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 — 12 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot123101317253K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BKD 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

spot1231013172511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot5913172125117%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 48.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 9310131725+$38K$38K
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
0.99-0.0030.00540.00-0.00-0.03
0.97-0.0050.01310.01-0.00-0.05
0.85-0.0090.05790.02-0.00-0.17
0.79-0.00100.08200.02-0.00-0.23
0.69-0.00110.11030.03-0.00-0.33
0.57-0.00120.13120.03-0.01-0.46
0.45-0.00130.13130.03-0.01-0.60
0.35-0.00140.11680.03-0.01-0.71
0.28-0.00150.09960.03-0.01-0.78
0.20-0.00170.07200.02-0.01-0.88
0.13-0.00200.04770.01-0.01-0.95
0.10-0.00220.03800.01-0.00-0.97
0.08-0.00250.02840.01-0.00-0.99

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

spot3101316192213K0
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

spot3813182316K16K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 25K call contracts, 14K 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: BKD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk