Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 11:11 PM ET

BXSL max pain

Spot (delayed)$24.21
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$24-0.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.43±1.8% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.7611K puts / 15K calls
Call wall$27.5largest call OI
Put wall$22.5largest put OI
IV3014.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$982Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $24

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$24-0.9%4d
Fri, Sep 18$24-0.9%32d
Fri, Nov 20$24-0.9%95d
Fri, Jan 15$25+3.3%151d
Fri, Feb 19$32+32.2%186d
Fri, Jan 21$27.5+13.6%522d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot24152025303540$21M$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 — 24 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot2415212529407K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BXSL 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

spot241521252940933933
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot23242526272867%19%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 18.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 24152022.52527.530+$654K$654K
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
1.00150.00040.000.00
1.0017.50.00150.00-0.00-0.00
0.99-0.00200.00710.00-0.00-0.00
0.99-0.00210.01570.00-0.00-0.01
0.97-0.0122.50.07140.00-0.01-0.03
0.70-0.02240.79220.01-0.02-0.30
0.08-0.01250.27850.00-0.01-0.92
0.02-0.00260.05900.00-0.00-0.98
0.01-0.0027.50.01380.00-0.00-1.00
0.00-0.00290.00520.00-0.00-1.00
0.00-0.00300.00310.00-0.00-1.00
0.000.0032.50.00110.00-0.00-1.00
0.000.00400.0002-0.00-1.00

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

spot17.522242729408K0
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

spot12.517.522.527.532.54010K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 28K call contracts, 28K 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: BXSL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk