Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 11:28 PM ET

BSP max pain

Spot (delayed)$43.8
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$50+14.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$12.4±28.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI2.686K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV3086.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$167Kper 1% move

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$45+2.7%30d
Fri, Dec 18$50+14.2%58d
Fri, Jan 15$45+2.7%86d
Fri, Feb 19$55+25.6%121d
Fri, Apr 16$49+11.9%177d
Thu, Jun 17$49+11.9%239d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot50203346597285$15M$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 — 50 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot502032364045654K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BSP open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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, Dec 18

spot50203236404565703703
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot203346597285128%75%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 89.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot203236404565+$126K−$126K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.77-0.04360.02150.05-0.04-0.23
0.74-0.04370.02260.06-0.04-0.25
0.72-0.04380.02350.06-0.04-0.28
0.69-0.04390.02420.06-0.04-0.30
0.66-0.05400.02480.06-0.04-0.33
0.61-0.05420.02550.07-0.05-0.38
0.58-0.05430.02570.07-0.05-0.41
0.56-0.05440.02570.07-0.05-0.43
0.53-0.05450.02560.07-0.05-0.46
0.42-0.05500.02400.07-0.05-0.56
0.34-0.05550.02140.06-0.05-0.65
0.27-0.05600.01870.06-0.05-0.71
0.22-0.05650.01620.05-0.04-0.76
0.18-0.04700.01400.05-0.04-0.80
0.13-0.04800.01050.04-0.03-0.85

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 24 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot22.534394449704K0
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

spot17.5253239466511K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 20K call contracts, 40K 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 · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk