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

BPOP max pain

Spot (delayed)$159.17
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$160+0.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$13.55±8.5% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.70496 puts / 710 calls
Call wall$170largest call OI
Put wall$150largest put OI
IV3024.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$127Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $105

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$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

spot160100124148172196220$4M$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 — 160 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot160100130160175190210401401
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BPOP open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot16010013016017519021011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot10012414817219622073%19%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 22.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 105100130160175190210+$205K−$205K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.021000.00180.06-0.02-0.04
0.96-0.021050.00220.07-0.02-0.04
0.91-0.031250.00520.12-0.03-0.09
0.89-0.031300.00660.14-0.03-0.11
0.78-0.041450.01350.23-0.04-0.22
0.72-0.041500.01700.26-0.04-0.29
0.52-0.041600.02320.30-0.04-0.49
0.41-0.041650.02290.29-0.04-0.61
0.31-0.041700.02020.27-0.04-0.71
0.24-0.031750.01680.24-0.03-0.78
0.19-0.031800.01370.21-0.03-0.83
0.15-0.031850.01120.18-0.03-0.87
0.13-0.031900.00930.16-0.03-0.89
0.11-0.031950.00770.14-0.02-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 17 are in the CSV. 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