Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 10:01 AM ET

BTC max pain

Spot (delayed)$35.54
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$32-10.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.5±12.7% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.551K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$37largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3037.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$111Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $33

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$38+6.9%25d
Fri, Dec 18$32-10.0%53d
Fri, Jan 15$30-15.6%81d
Fri, Mar 19$32-10.0%144d
Thu, Jun 17$30-15.6%234d
Fri, Jan 21$27-24.0%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot32202632384450$3M$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 — 32 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot32202630343842352352
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BTC 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

spot322026303438422020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot20263238445081%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 33202630343842+$33K−$33K
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
0.90-0.01290.02620.03-0.01-0.10
0.88-0.01300.03260.03-0.01-0.13
0.84-0.01310.03990.04-0.01-0.16
0.80-0.01320.04790.04-0.01-0.21
0.74-0.02330.05610.04-0.02-0.26
0.69-0.02340.06380.05-0.02-0.32
0.62-0.02350.07000.05-0.02-0.39
0.55-0.02360.07400.06-0.02-0.47
0.47-0.02370.07500.06-0.02-0.54
0.40-0.02380.07310.05-0.02-0.61
0.33-0.02390.06870.05-0.02-0.68
0.28-0.02400.06260.05-0.02-0.74
0.23-0.01410.05580.04-0.01-0.80
0.18-0.01420.04880.04-0.01-0.84
0.15-0.01430.04210.03-0.01-0.88

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

spot1527374757708K0
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

spot1526374859708K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 30K call contracts, 7K 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: BTC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk