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Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 1, 9:30 AM ET

BSP max pain

Spot (delayed)$35.5
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$35-1.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.8±16.3% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI10.661K puts / 139 calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV3073.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$60Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$35-1.4%20d
Fri, Sep 18$30-15.5%48d
Fri, Oct 16$35-1.4%76d
Fri, Jan 15$35-1.4%167d
Thu, Jun 17$17.5-50.7%320d
Fri, Jan 21$30-15.5%538d
Fri, Dec 15$45+26.8%867d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot35182227313640$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot3517.520253035401K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BSP open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 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, Aug 21

spot3517.520253035405050
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot182227313640233%75%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 86.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot17.52025303540+$63K$63K
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, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.0117.50.00370.00-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.02200.00590.01-0.02-0.03
0.93-0.03250.01520.01-0.03-0.08
0.81-0.05300.03630.02-0.05-0.19
0.56-0.06350.06080.03-0.06-0.44
0.29-0.05400.05130.03-0.06-0.72

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

spot303540452880
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

spot17.522.53040508K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 697 call contracts, 10K 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: BSP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk