Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 1:11 AM ET

BLSH max pain

Spot (delayed)$28.5
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$35+22.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.68±30.4% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.443K puts / 8K calls
Call wall$50largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3084.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$33Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $50

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 23$30+5.3%today
Fri, Oct 30$32+12.3%7d
Fri, Nov 6$31+8.8%14d
Fri, Nov 13$32+12.3%21d
Fri, Nov 20$35+22.8%28d
Fri, Nov 27$33+15.8%35d
Fri, Dec 18$35+22.8%56d
Fri, Jan 15$35+22.8%84d
Fri, Mar 19$35+22.8%147d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot351331506887105$40M$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot3512.522.54060801002K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BLSH 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

spot3512.522.54060801003030
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1331506887105166%71%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 77.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 5012.522.5406080100+$32K−$32K
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
0.98—12.50.00380.01-0.00-0.02
0.96-0.00150.00700.01-0.01-0.04
0.92-0.0117.50.01180.02-0.01-0.07
0.87-0.01200.01780.03-0.01-0.12
0.81-0.0222.50.02430.04-0.02-0.19
0.72-0.02250.03030.05-0.02-0.27
0.54-0.02300.03670.06-0.02-0.45
0.38-0.02350.03520.05-0.02-0.62
0.26-0.02400.02940.04-0.02-0.74
0.18-0.02450.02300.04-0.01-0.83
0.12-0.01500.01750.03-0.01-0.89
0.09-0.01550.01330.02-0.01-0.93
0.06-0.01600.01010.02-0.00-0.95
0.05-0.01650.00780.01—-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2027313539467320
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

spot12.524.530.53642654K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 25K call contracts, 15K 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: BLSH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk