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

BTC max pain

Spot (delayed)$28.13
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$29+3.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.3±26.0% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.3616 puts / 44 calls
Call wall$29largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3033.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$889per 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$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

spot29252831343740$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, Mar 19

spot2925293235402525
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BTC open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 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, Mar 19

spot29252932354011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot25272932343644%36%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 41.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot2529323540+$866$866
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.73-0.01250.03460.07-0.01-0.28
0.61-0.01280.04220.08-0.01-0.41
0.57-0.01290.04380.09-0.01-0.46
0.49-0.01310.04510.09-0.01-0.55
0.45-0.01320.04490.09-0.01-0.60
0.37-0.01340.04290.08-0.01-0.68
0.34-0.01350.04140.08-0.01-0.72
0.30-0.01360.03960.08-0.01-0.76
0.21-0.01400.03150.06-0.01-0.88

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

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