Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 1:12 AM ET

BWXT max pain

Spot (delayed)$127
Max pain · Fri, May 21$125-1.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$36.5±28.7% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI0.05262 puts / 5K calls
Call wall$125largest call OI
Put wall$70largest put OI
IV3053.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$669Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $125

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Nov 20$150+18.1%28d
Fri, Dec 18$140+10.2%56d
Fri, Jan 15$165+29.9%84d
Fri, Feb 19$145+14.2%119d
Fri, May 21$125-1.6%210d
Fri, Jan 21$125-1.6%455d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1257098126154182210$41M$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 — 125 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot125701101351601852K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BWXT open contracts per strike for Fri, May 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, May 21

spot125701101351601854444
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot709812615418221058%45%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 48.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21

spotflip 12570110135160185+$316K−$316K
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, May 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.90-0.01850.00350.17-0.02-0.10
0.85-0.02950.00490.23-0.03-0.16
0.81-0.031000.00560.26-0.03-0.19
0.78-0.031050.00630.29-0.03-0.23
0.74-0.031100.00690.31-0.04-0.27
0.70-0.041150.00750.34-0.04-0.31
0.66-0.041200.00800.35-0.04-0.35
0.62-0.041250.00830.37-0.04-0.39
0.57-0.041300.00860.38-0.04-0.44
0.53-0.041350.00880.38-0.04-0.48
0.49-0.041400.00880.38-0.04-0.52
0.45-0.041450.00880.38-0.04-0.56
0.41-0.041500.00860.38-0.04-0.60
0.38-0.041550.00850.37-0.04-0.64
0.35-0.041600.00820.35-0.04-0.68

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 25 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot851201551902503209180
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

spot701051401752202903K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 21K call contracts, 8K 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: BWXT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk