Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 19, 2:01 PM ET

BOIL max pain

Spot (delayed)$20.28
Max pain · Fri, Oct 2$19-6.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.71±18.3% by Fri, Oct 2
Put/Call OI0.2274 puts / 330 calls
Call wall$19largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3056.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$9Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $18.5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$19-6.3%2d
Fri, Aug 28$20-1.4%9d
Fri, Sep 4$18-11.2%16d
Fri, Sep 11$18-11.2%23d
Fri, Sep 18$20-1.4%30d
Fri, Sep 25$20-1.4%37d
Fri, Oct 2$19-6.3%44d
Fri, Dec 18$20-1.4%121d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot19151821252831$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 — 19 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot1915171921.52426160160
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BOIL open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 2.

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, Oct 2

spot1915171921.524261313
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot15182125283196%59%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 65.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spotflip 18.515171921.52426+$5K$5K
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, Oct 2

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.86-0.0116.50.05930.01-0.01-0.15
0.82-0.01170.06680.02-0.01-0.18
0.78-0.0117.50.07380.02-0.01-0.22
0.74-0.02180.07990.02-0.01-0.26
0.69-0.0218.50.08490.02-0.02-0.31
0.65-0.02190.08860.03-0.02-0.35
0.60-0.0219.50.09080.03-0.02-0.40
0.55-0.02200.09160.03-0.02-0.44
0.46-0.02210.08960.03-0.02-0.53
0.42-0.0221.50.08710.03-0.02-0.57
0.38-0.02220.08400.03-0.02-0.60
0.35-0.0222.50.08030.03-0.02-0.64
0.32-0.02230.07630.03-0.02-0.67
0.26-0.02240.06790.02-0.02-0.73
0.24-0.0224.50.06370.02-0.02-0.75

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1518.52225.529.5365K0
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

spot516.52125.530376K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 42K call contracts, 13K 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: BOIL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk