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

BXSL max pain

Spot (delayed)$24.21
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$27.5+13.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.2±25.6% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI1.121K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$27.5largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3014.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$21Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $22.5

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 · 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$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

spot27.5131823283338$3M$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 — 27.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot27.512.517.522.527.532.537.5496496
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BXSL open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 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, Jan 21

spot27.512.517.522.527.532.537.511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot13172125293360%17%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 20.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spotflip 22.512.517.522.527.532.537.5+$11K$11K
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, Jan 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.0012.50.01840.05-0.00-0.12
1.00150.02970.06-0.00-0.17
1.0017.50.00060.00-0.00-0.26
0.99200.01640.00-0.00-0.41
0.80-0.0022.50.15910.04-0.00-0.60
0.37-0.00250.11940.08-0.00-0.74
0.21-0.0027.50.06300.070.00-0.81
0.15-0.00300.04230.060.00-0.85
0.12-0.0032.50.03170.05-0.87
0.10-0.00350.02540.04-0.89
0.09-0.0037.50.02110.04-0.90

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