Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 9:30 PM ET

BRZE max pain

Spot (delayed)$45.87
Max pain · Fri, May 21$30-34.6% vs spot
Put/Call OI0.0158 puts / 4K calls
Call wall$47.5largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV305.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.1Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $47.5

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$32.5-29.1%25d
Fri, Dec 18$35-23.7%53d
Fri, Jan 15$27.5-40.0%81d
Fri, Feb 19$27.5-40.0%116d
Fri, May 21$30-34.6%207d
Fri, Jan 21$30-34.6%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot30132027344148$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 — 30 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot3012.52027.53542.54K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BRZE open contracts per strike for Fri, May 21.

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, May 21

spot3012.52027.53542.52K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot35384043454836%6%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 10.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21

spotflip 47.512.517.522.53037.542.5+$1.1M−$1.1M
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, May 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.00-0.0027.50.00430.02-0.00-0.02
1.00-0.00300.00610.02-0.00-0.03
1.00-0.0032.50.00890.03-0.00-0.04
1.00-0.00350.00140.04-0.00-0.05
0.99-0.0037.50.01260.00-0.00-0.07
0.98-0.00400.05270.02-0.00-0.10
0.92-0.0042.50.12170.05-0.00-0.18
0.15-0.0047.50.12320.09-0.00-0.82

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 8 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.51525354522K0
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

spot2.512.522.532.542.552.528K28K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 58K 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: BRZE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk