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

BSY max pain

Spot (delayed)$34.62
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$30-13.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.85±42.9% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.0569 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$50largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV3044.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$36Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, 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

spot30152841546780$5M$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, Jan 21

spot30152025354560702702
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BSY open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 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, Jan 21

spot3015202535456022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot15284154678061%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 45.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot152025354560+$17K$17K
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, Jan 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.960.00150.00450.05-0.00-0.06
0.94-0.0017.50.00610.06-0.00-0.08
0.91-0.00200.00800.07-0.00-0.10
0.88-0.0022.50.01020.09-0.00-0.14
0.85-0.00250.01250.10-0.01-0.17
0.76-0.01300.01710.13-0.01-0.27
0.66-0.01350.02070.15-0.01-0.38
0.56-0.01400.02280.17-0.01-0.50
0.46-0.01450.02330.17-0.01-0.62
0.37-0.01500.02250.16-0.01-0.73
0.23-0.01600.01850.13-0.01-0.93
0.09-0.00800.00960.07-0.01-1.00

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