Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 11:20 PM ET

BW max pain

Spot (delayed)$10.39
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$11+5.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.28±41.1% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.161K puts / 9K calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$7.5largest put OI
IV3088.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$36Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $5

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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$10-3.8%5d
Fri, Aug 28$9-13.4%12d
Fri, Sep 4$9.5-8.6%19d
Fri, Sep 11$10-3.8%26d
Fri, Sep 18$10-3.8%33d
Fri, Sep 25$10.5+1.1%40d
Fri, Nov 20$11+5.9%96d
Fri, Jan 15$2.5-75.9%152d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot113916222935$13M$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 — 11 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot112.59141924282K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BW open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot112.59141924286666
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot3916222935186%95%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 109.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 52.5914192428+$12K$12K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.002.50.00420.00-0.00-0.01
0.93-0.0050.02070.01-0.00-0.06
0.89-0.0160.03150.01-0.01-0.10
0.80-0.017.50.04870.01-0.01-0.19
0.70-0.0190.06250.02-0.01-0.29
0.63-0.01100.06830.02-0.01-0.37
0.56-0.01110.07130.02-0.01-0.44
0.47-0.0112.50.07120.02-0.01-0.53
0.39-0.01140.06780.02-0.01-0.61
0.35-0.01150.06450.02-0.01-0.65
0.31-0.01160.06080.02-0.01-0.69
0.26-0.0117.50.05520.02-0.01-0.74
0.22-0.01190.04980.02-0.01-0.78

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.5912.51622303K0
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

spot0.55913172312K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 79K call contracts, 26K 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: BW workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk