Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 11:13 PM ET

BXC max pain

Spot (delayed)$86.52
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$75-13.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$30.25±35.0% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.0849 puts / 628 calls
Call wall$85largest call OI
Put wall$70largest put OI
IV3064.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$43Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $50

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$65-24.9%4d
Fri, Sep 18$100+15.6%32d
Fri, Nov 20$80-7.5%95d
Fri, Dec 18$60-30.7%123d
Fri, Feb 19$75-13.3%186d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7540587694112130$2M$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 — 75 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot75407085105130283283
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BXC open contracts per strike for Fri, Feb 19.

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, Feb 19

spot7540708510513099
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot4058769411213070%61%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 62.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 50407085105130+$20K$20K
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, Feb 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.01400.00190.06-0.01-0.04
0.91-0.02500.00350.10-0.02-0.08
0.81-0.03650.00660.17-0.03-0.19
0.77-0.03700.00760.19-0.03-0.23
0.72-0.03750.00840.21-0.04-0.28
0.67-0.04800.00910.22-0.04-0.33
0.62-0.04850.00960.24-0.04-0.38
0.53-0.04950.01010.25-0.04-0.48
0.48-0.041000.01010.25-0.04-0.53
0.44-0.041050.01000.24-0.04-0.57
0.40-0.041100.00980.24-0.04-0.61
0.33-0.041200.00910.23-0.04-0.69
0.27-0.041300.00830.21-0.04-0.75

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

spot405570851001152740
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

spot25456585105125466466
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 834 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: BXC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk