Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 7, 2:53 AM ET

BKE max pain

Spot (delayed)$45.72
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$42.5-7.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.6±5.7% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.09109 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$47.5largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3033.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$240Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $32.5
Earnings · expectedFri, Aug 21usually after the close

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$42.5-7.0%15d← 1st expiry after earnings (Fri, Aug 21)
Fri, Sep 18$50+9.4%43d
Fri, Dec 18$45-1.6%134d
Fri, Mar 19$40-12.5%225d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot42.5303642485460$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 — 42.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot42.5303540455060747747
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BKE open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 21.

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, Aug 21

spot42.530354045506022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot333741454953120%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 32.5303540455060+$170K$170K
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, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.01300.00670.00-0.02-0.02
0.97-0.0232.50.00930.01-0.02-0.03
0.96-0.02350.01380.01-0.03-0.05
0.93-0.0337.50.02210.01-0.03-0.07
0.89-0.03400.03840.02-0.03-0.12
0.80-0.0442.50.07070.03-0.04-0.21
0.59-0.04450.12250.04-0.04-0.41
0.29-0.0447.50.10870.03-0.04-0.71
0.14-0.03500.05920.02-0.03-0.86
0.08-0.0252.50.03360.01-0.02-0.92
0.03-0.01600.00990.01-0.01-0.97

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

spot27.54047.55562.58890
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

spot22.532.542.552.562.580889889
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 723 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: BKE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk