Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 3, 12:21 PM ET

ETHB max pain

Spot (delayed)$23.85
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$22-7.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.08±29.7% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.1916 puts / 85 calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$22largest put OI
IV3058.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $20

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$22-7.8%6d
Fri, Sep 18$25+4.8%34d
Fri, Dec 18$22-7.8%125d
Fri, Mar 19$15-37.1%216d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot22152127333945$1M$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 — 22 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot221522263134391717
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ETHB open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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, Dec 18

spot2215222631343911
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot15212733394597%57%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 60.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 20152226313439+$274$274
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.86-0.01150.01490.03-0.01-0.14
0.75-0.01200.03040.05-0.01-0.25
0.71-0.01210.03440.05-0.01-0.29
0.68-0.01220.03860.05-0.01-0.33
0.63-0.01230.04250.06-0.01-0.37
0.54-0.01250.04770.06-0.01-0.47
0.49-0.01260.04820.06-0.01-0.51
0.38-0.01290.04380.06-0.01-0.63
0.36-0.01300.04160.06-0.01-0.66
0.33-0.01310.03940.05-0.01-0.68
0.31-0.01320.03720.05-0.01-0.70
0.30-0.01330.03530.05-0.01-0.72

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot202428323745260
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

spot131823283338129129
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 165 call contracts, 193 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: ETHB workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk