Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 2:21 AM ET

BTG max pain

Spot (delayed)$5.07
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$4-21.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.68±13.3% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.241K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$5largest call OI
Put wall$4.5largest put OI
IV3045.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$45Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $2.5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 14$4-21.1%today
Fri, Aug 21$4.5-11.2%7d
Fri, Aug 28$4-21.1%14d
Fri, Sep 4$3-40.8%21d
Fri, Sep 11$0.5-90.1%28d
Fri, Sep 18$4-21.1%35d
Fri, Sep 25$0.5-90.1%42d
Fri, Oct 16$4-21.1%63d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot4123567$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 — 4 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot4134562K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BTG open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 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, Sep 18

spot4134561K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot334567167%44%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 53.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 2.513456+$19K$19K
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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.0010.00670.00-0.00-0.01
0.97-0.002.50.03400.00-0.00-0.04
0.95-0.0030.05660.00-0.00-0.05
0.93-0.003.50.09790.00-0.00-0.07
0.88-0.0040.18010.00-0.00-0.12
0.78-0.004.50.34890.01-0.00-0.22
0.56-0.0050.53590.01-0.00-0.44
0.34-0.005.50.43770.01-0.00-0.67
0.21-0.0060.29890.01-0.00-0.78
0.11-0.0070.15440.00-0.00-0.89

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

spot0.52.54.56.591219K0
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

spot0.52.54.56.58.511103K103K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 525K call contracts, 169K 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: BTG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk