Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 2:19 PM ET

BTI max pain

Spot (delayed)$56.83
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$55-3.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.07±12.4% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.716K puts / 9K calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$37largest put OI
IV3022.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$465Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $60

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$60+5.6%6d
Fri, Sep 18$60+5.6%34d
Fri, Dec 18$55-3.2%125d
Fri, Jan 15$50-12.0%153d
Fri, Mar 19$60+5.6%216d
Thu, Jun 17$50-12.0%306d
Fri, Jul 16$60+5.6%335d
Fri, Dec 17$55-3.2%489d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot55183247617690$22M$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 — 55 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot551828374765852K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BTI 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

spot5518283747658533
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot18324761769084%26%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 60182837476585+$259K$259K
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
0.99-0.00350.00170.01-0.00-0.02
0.99-0.00370.00280.01-0.00-0.03
0.98-0.00400.00540.01-0.00-0.04
0.97-0.00420.00830.02-0.01-0.06
0.94-0.01450.01500.04-0.01-0.09
0.90-0.01470.02110.06-0.01-0.12
0.82-0.01500.03190.09-0.01-0.20
0.62-0.01550.04590.13-0.01-0.40
0.39-0.01600.04480.13-0.01-0.63
0.22-0.01650.03340.10-0.01-0.81
0.12-0.01700.02160.07-0.01-0.91
0.07-0.01750.01330.04-0.00-0.95
0.04-0.00800.00820.03-0.00-0.98
0.02-0.00850.00500.02-0.00-0.99
0.01-0.00900.00320.01-0.00-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot23324050658017K0
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

spot183038507510023K23K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 89K call contracts, 40K 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: BTI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk