Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 22, 1:02 AM ET

BLZE max pain

Spot (delayed)$9.24
Max pain · Thu, Jun 17$7.5-18.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.63±60.9% by Thu, Jun 17
Put/Call OI0.0352 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$22.5largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV30119.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$6Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

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, Nov 20$12.5+35.3%30d
Fri, Dec 18$12.5+35.3%58d
Fri, Jan 15$12.5+35.3%86d
Fri, Apr 16$7.5-18.8%177d
Thu, Jun 17$7.5-18.8%239d
Fri, Sep 17$2.5-72.9%331d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7.551117232935$2M$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 — 7.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot7.551015202535835835
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BLZE open contracts per strike for Thu, Jun 17.

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 · Thu, Jun 17

spot7.5510152025352727
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot51117232935104%91%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 93.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spotflip 7.551015202535+$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 · Thu, Jun 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.89-0.0050.02470.01-0.00-0.12
0.76-0.007.50.04280.02-0.01-0.24
0.63-0.01100.05300.03-0.01-0.38
0.52-0.0112.50.05560.03-0.01-0.49
0.43-0.01150.05420.03-0.01-0.59
0.36-0.0117.50.05080.03-0.01-0.67
0.30-0.01200.04690.03-0.01-0.73
0.26-0.0122.50.04290.02-0.00-0.78
0.22-0.01250.03920.02-0.00-0.83
0.17-0.00300.03250.02-0.00-0.90

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 11 are in the CSV. 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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5306K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 17K call contracts, 9K 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 · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk