Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 1:13 AM ET

BLDP max pain

Spot (delayed)$1.48
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$2+35.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.25±16.9% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.123K puts / 22K calls
Call wall$5largest call OI
Put wall$3largest put OI
IV3076.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$7Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $1

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 20$2+35.4%25d
Fri, Dec 18$2+35.4%53d
Fri, Feb 19$3+103.1%116d
Fri, May 21$3+103.1%207d
Fri, Jan 21$1-32.3%452d
Fri, Jan 19$2+35.4%816d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot213571012$15M$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 — 2 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot20.5258116K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BLDP open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot20.5258112929
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot123456293%72%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 75.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 1136912+$3K−$3K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.000.50.05860.00-0.00-0.03
0.91-0.0010.33100.00-0.00-0.10
0.53-0.001.51.25390.00-0.00-0.48
0.21-0.0020.64140.00-0.00-0.81
0.09-0.0030.25010.00-0.00-0.92
0.06-0.0040.15260.00-0.00-0.95
0.05-0.0050.11020.00-0.00-0.97
0.04-0.0060.08670.00-0.00-0.98
0.03-0.0070.07180.00-0.00-0.98
0.03-0.0080.06160.00-0.00-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot0.5258117K0
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

spot0.5258117K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 28K call contracts, 4K 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: BLDP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk