Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 1:38 AM ET

BKD max pain

Spot (delayed)$10.07
Max pain · Thu, Jun 17$13+29.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4±39.7% by Thu, Jun 17
Put/Call OI0.0138 puts / 5K calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3041.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$22Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $8

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$11+9.2%30d
Fri, Dec 18$11+9.2%58d
Fri, Jan 15$12+19.2%86d
Fri, Feb 19$13+29.1%121d
Fri, Apr 16$12+19.2%177d
Thu, Jun 17$13+29.1%239d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot135811141720$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 — 13 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot135813205K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BKD open contracts per strike for Thu, Jun 17.

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 · Thu, Jun 17

spot1358132011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot581114172074%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 64.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spotflip 8578101320+$23K−$23K
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 · Thu, Jun 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.90-0.0050.02510.01-0.00-0.09
0.82-0.0070.05090.02-0.00-0.17
0.76-0.0080.07070.02-0.00-0.23
0.56-0.00100.10710.03-0.00-0.41
0.34-0.00130.08430.03-0.00-0.64
0.27-0.00150.06720.03-0.00-0.72
0.19-0.00200.04450.02-0.00-0.81

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

spot391215223K0
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

spot27121722305K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 12K call contracts, 5K 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 · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk