Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 1:43 AM ET

BZAI max pain

Spot (delayed)$0.24
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$0.5+104.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.44±178.3% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.01493 puts / 44K calls
Call wall$5largest call OI
Put wall$2largest put OI
IV30152.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2Kper 1% move

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$0.5+104.9%26d
Fri, Jan 15$0.5+104.9%82d
Fri, Feb 19$0.5+104.9%117d
Fri, May 21$0.5+104.9%208d
Fri, Jan 21$0.5+104.9%453d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot0.51246810$19M$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 — 0.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot0.50.51.5351017K17K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BZAI 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

spot0.50.51.5351022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot1246810379%134%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 153.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot0.51.53510+$777−$777
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
0.700.000.51.10300.000.00-0.42
0.530.0011.12680.000.00-0.63
0.450.001.51.05770.000.00-0.75
0.400.0020.99300.000.00-0.84
0.350.0030.89560.000.00-0.95
0.310.0040.82790.000.00-0.99
0.290.0050.77770.000.00-1.00
0.260.0070.70740.000.00-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 8 strikes around the money — all 9 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot0.51.53576K0
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

spot0.51.535721K21K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 73K call contracts, 2K 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: BZAI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk