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

BSP max pain

Spot (delayed)$43.8
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$55+25.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$16.6±37.9% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI3.13163 puts / 52 calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$55largest put OI
IV3086.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$3Kper 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

spot55243546586980$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 — 55 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot55243236405080100100
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BSP open contracts per strike for Fri, Feb 19.

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, Feb 19

spot55243236405080551551
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot24354658698089%71%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 84.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot243236405080+$2K−$2K
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, Feb 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.79-0.02330.01450.07-0.02-0.20
0.75-0.03350.01570.08-0.03-0.24
0.73-0.03360.01620.08-0.03-0.26
0.71-0.03370.01670.08-0.03-0.27
0.69-0.03380.01700.09-0.03-0.29
0.65-0.03400.01770.09-0.03-0.33
0.61-0.03420.01810.09-0.03-0.37
0.56-0.03450.01830.10-0.03-0.42
0.48-0.03500.01800.10-0.03-0.50
0.41-0.03550.01720.10-0.03-0.57
0.35-0.03600.01600.09-0.03-0.62
0.20-0.03800.01140.07-0.02-0.77

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 16 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