Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:46 PM ET

BPOP max pain

Spot (delayed)$159.17
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$165+3.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.35±5.2% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI13.75165 puts / 12 calls
Call wall$160largest call OI
Put wall$160largest put OI
IV3024.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$118Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 20$165+3.7%25d
Fri, Dec 18$145-8.9%53d
Fri, Jan 15$160+0.5%81d
Fri, Apr 16$165+3.7%172d
Fri, May 21$130-18.3%207d
Thu, Jun 17$120-24.6%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot165145153161169177185$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 — 165 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot165145155165175185100100
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BPOP open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot16514515516517518511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot14515316116917718557%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot145155165175185+$91K−$91K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.82-0.081450.01520.11-0.08-0.17
0.76-0.081500.02160.14-0.08-0.24
0.65-0.081550.03070.16-0.08-0.34
0.49-0.081600.03690.18-0.08-0.51
0.33-0.071650.03130.16-0.07-0.67
0.23-0.071700.02290.13-0.07-0.77
0.17-0.071750.01690.11-0.07-0.83
0.14-0.071800.01290.10-0.07-0.86
0.11-0.061850.01020.09-0.06-0.89

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

spot1001601751902104020
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

spot80110140170200260413413
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 774 call contracts, 681 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: BPOP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk