Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 11:20 PM ET

BLZE max pain

Spot (delayed)$18.8
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$15-20.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.75±25.3% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.321K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$22.5largest call OI
Put wall$12.5largest put OI
IV3092.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$60Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $10

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$10-46.8%5d
Fri, Sep 18$15-20.2%33d
Fri, Oct 16$10-46.8%61d
Fri, Dec 18$10-46.8%124d
Fri, Jan 15$12.5-33.5%152d
Fri, Apr 16$7.5-60.1%243d
Thu, Jun 17$7.5-60.1%305d
Fri, Sep 17$10-46.8%397d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1551117232935$6M$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot15510152025351K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BLZE open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 18.

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, Sep 18

spot1551015202535974974
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot51117232935278%91%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 97.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 1051015202535+$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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.0050.00180.00-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.017.50.00430.00-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.01100.00990.00-0.01-0.03
0.93-0.0112.50.02220.01-0.01-0.07
0.84-0.02150.04410.01-0.02-0.17
0.68-0.0317.50.06630.02-0.03-0.33
0.50-0.03200.07300.02-0.03-0.51
0.35-0.0322.50.06560.02-0.03-0.66
0.24-0.03250.05310.02-0.03-0.77
0.12-0.02300.03110.01-0.02-0.90
0.06-0.01350.01760.01-0.01-0.96

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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5303K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5303K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 21K call contracts, 5K 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: BLZE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk