Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 11:22 AM ET

BTC max pain

Spot (delayed)$28.13
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$29+3.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.08±18.0% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.84735 puts / 878 calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3033.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $42

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$27-4.0%8d
Fri, Sep 18$30+6.6%36d
Fri, Dec 18$29+3.1%127d
Fri, Jan 15$30+6.6%155d
Fri, Mar 19$29+3.1%218d
Fri, Jan 21$25-11.1%526d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot29202632384450$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 — 29 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot29202630343842174174
■ 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

spot292026303438424242
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot20263238445057%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 42202630343842+$6K$6K
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
0.90-0.00200.01980.03-0.01-0.11
0.82-0.01230.03320.04-0.01-0.19
0.79-0.01240.03870.05-0.01-0.22
0.75-0.01250.04440.05-0.01-0.27
0.70-0.01260.04990.06-0.01-0.32
0.65-0.01270.05500.06-0.01-0.37
0.59-0.01280.05900.07-0.01-0.43
0.53-0.01290.06140.07-0.01-0.49
0.47-0.01300.06200.07-0.01-0.56
0.41-0.01310.06100.07-0.01-0.62
0.36-0.01320.05840.06-0.01-0.68
0.31-0.01330.05480.06-0.01-0.73
0.27-0.01340.05070.06-0.01-0.78
0.23-0.01350.04640.05-0.01-0.82

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 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

spot2027333945511K0
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

spot1526374859702K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 22K call contracts, 6K 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 · GEX, defined · pin risk