Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 2:24 AM ET

BSY max pain

Spot (delayed)$34.62
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$35+1.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.73±10.8% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI2.90395 puts / 136 calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3044.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$24Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$35+1.1%2d
Fri, Sep 18$35+1.1%30d
Fri, Nov 20$35+1.1%93d
Fri, Jan 15$35+1.1%149d
Fri, Feb 19$30-13.3%184d
Fri, Jan 21$30-13.3%520d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot35232732364145$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot3522.52530354045230230
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BSY open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 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, Sep 18

spot3522.5253035404555
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot232732364145125%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 44.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot22.52530354045+$25K$25K
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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.0122.50.00850.01-0.01-0.04
0.95-0.01250.01390.01-0.01-0.05
0.86-0.02300.04180.02-0.02-0.15
0.53-0.03350.08880.04-0.03-0.48
0.19-0.02400.05600.03-0.02-0.83
0.07-0.01450.02390.01-0.01-0.97

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

spot20304050606640
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

spot1522.5355065806K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K call contracts, 2K 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: BSY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk