Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 9:30 PM ET

BTCO max pain

Spot (delayed)$62.57
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$64+2.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.6±18.5% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.447 puts / 16 calls
Call wall$64largest call OI
Put wall$71largest put OI
IV3029.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$651per 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$62-0.9%6d
Fri, Sep 18$40-36.1%34d
Fri, Dec 18$64+2.3%125d
Fri, Mar 19$72+15.1%216d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot64556167727884$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 — 64 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot6455576070808466
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BTCO 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

spot6455576070808411
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot55616772788445%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot555760708084+$648$648
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
0.75-0.02550.01950.12-0.02-0.25
0.73-0.02560.02070.12-0.02-0.27
0.71-0.02570.02180.13-0.02-0.29
0.69-0.02580.02290.13-0.02-0.32
0.64-0.02600.02490.14-0.02-0.37
0.53-0.02640.02760.15-0.02-0.48
0.37-0.02700.02690.14-0.02-0.65
0.35-0.02710.02630.14-0.02-0.67
0.19-0.01800.01860.10-0.02-0.84
0.16-0.01830.01610.09-0.02-0.88
0.15-0.01840.01530.09-0.02-0.89

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

spot3556668093120210
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

spot35617181911052121
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 140 call contracts, 45 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: BTCO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk