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

BTI max pain

Spot (delayed)$56.83
Max pain · Fri, Dec 17$55-3.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$13.85±24.4% by Fri, Dec 17
Put/Call OI0.7213 puts / 18 calls
Call wall$65largest call OI
Put wall$55largest put OI
IV3022.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$387per 1% move · flip ≈ $65

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

spot55354351596775$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 — 55 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot5535556065751313
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BTI open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 17.

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 17

spot55355560657511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot35435159677534%28%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 28.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spotflip 653555606575+$961$961
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 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98350.00420.02-0.00-0.09
0.60-0.01550.02360.23-0.01-0.43
0.49-0.01600.02410.24-0.01-0.54
0.39-0.01650.02290.23-0.01-0.63
0.24-0.01750.01800.18-0.00-0.77

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

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