Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 2:52 AM ET

BWMX max pain

Spot (delayed)$16.45
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$17.5+6.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.26±13.7% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI2.0543 puts / 21 calls
Call wall$17.5largest call OI
Put wall$17.5largest put OI
IV3045.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $15

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$17.5+6.4%7d
Fri, Sep 18$15-8.8%35d
Fri, Dec 18$15-8.8%126d
Fri, Mar 19$12.5-24.0%217d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot17.5131517192123$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 — 17.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot17.512.51517.52022.54040
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BWMX open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 21.

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, Aug 21

spot17.512.51517.52022.511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot131517192123225%36%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 104.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 1512.51517.520+$2K$2K
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, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.000.0012.50.00080.000.00
0.94-0.01150.12100.00-0.01-0.07
0.18-0.0217.50.25560.01-0.02-0.83
0.01-0.00200.01170.000.00-1.00
0.0022.50.0004-1.00

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

spot10152025910
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5309292
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 205 call contracts, 110 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: BWMX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk