Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 11:57 PM ET

BLX max pain

Spot (delayed)$55.18
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$60+8.7% vs spot
Put/Call OI0.115 puts / 46 calls
Call wall$65largest call OI
Put wall$60largest put OI
IV3023.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $60

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$60+8.7%6d
Fri, Sep 18$55-0.3%34d
Fri, Dec 18$55-0.3%125d
Fri, Mar 19$60+8.7%216d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot60505560657075$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 — 60 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot60506065753232
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BLX 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

spot605060657511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 6050606575+$2K$2K
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
0.89-0.06500.03940.01-0.06-0.11
0.09-0.03600.04930.01-0.03-0.93
0.04-0.02650.01610.01-0.02-0.97
0.01-0.01750.00450.00-0.01-0.99

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

spot506070801160
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

spot22.535506580116116
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 312 call contracts, 116 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: BLX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk