Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 6:59 PM ET

BKNG max pain

Spot (delayed)$150.23
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$186+23.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$23.6±15.7% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI1.42108K puts / 76K calls
Call wall$316largest call OI
Put wall$176largest put OI
IV3046.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$19.0Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $77.6

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, Oct 30$160+6.5%3d
Fri, Nov 6$165+9.8%10d
Fri, Nov 13$165+9.8%17d
Fri, Nov 20$165+9.8%24d
Fri, Nov 27$155+3.2%31d
Fri, Dec 4$140-6.8%38d
Fri, Dec 18$150-0.2%52d
Fri, Jan 15$186+23.8%80d
Fri, Mar 19$175+16.5%143d
Fri, Apr 16$200+33.1%171d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot18684136188240292344$865M$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 — 186 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot18684153.61621782002288K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BKNG 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

spot18684153.616217820022821K21K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot8413618824029234481%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 41.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 77.684153.6162178200228+$2.1M−$2.1M
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
0.89-0.031200.00600.13-0.04-0.11
0.86-0.041240.00720.16-0.04-0.14
0.86-0.041250.00750.16-0.04-0.15
0.83-0.051280.00840.18-0.05-0.18
0.79-0.051320.00960.21-0.06-0.22
0.75-0.061360.01070.23-0.06-0.26
0.70-0.061400.01170.25-0.07-0.31
0.57-0.071500.01350.28-0.07-0.45
0.54-0.071520.01360.28-0.07-0.47
0.52-0.07153.60.01380.28-0.07-0.49
0.52-0.071540.01380.28-0.07-0.50
0.51-0.07154.40.01380.28-0.07-0.51
0.49-0.071560.01380.28-0.07-0.53
0.47-0.07157.20.01380.28-0.07-0.55
0.47-0.07157.60.01380.28-0.07-0.55

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 60 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot115148162.5177.52002505K0
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

spot8415217019422028421K21K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 335K call contracts, 273K 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: BKNG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk