Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 11:26 PM ET

GBTC max pain

Spot (delayed)$48.57
Max pain · Fri, Sep 25$52.5+8.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.63±9.5% by Fri, Sep 25
Put/Call OI0.6264 puts / 104 calls
Call wall$56largest call OI
Put wall$55largest put OI
IV3032.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$47.5-2.2%6d
Fri, Aug 28$49+0.9%13d
Fri, Sep 4$50.5+4.0%20d
Fri, Sep 11$51+5.0%27d
Fri, Sep 18$50+2.9%34d
Fri, Sep 25$52.5+8.1%41d
Fri, Oct 2$54+11.2%48d
Fri, Dec 18$40-17.6%125d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot52.5444750545760$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 — 52.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot52.5445051.55355.5584949
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GBTC open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 25.

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, Sep 25

spot52.5445051.55355.55899
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot44475054576044%30%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 35.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot445051.55355.558+$4K$4K
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, Sep 25

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.80-0.02440.04230.05-0.02-0.20
0.76-0.02450.04910.05-0.02-0.25
0.51-0.03490.07060.07-0.03-0.49
0.44-0.03500.07060.07-0.03-0.56
0.41-0.0350.50.06960.06-0.03-0.60
0.38-0.03510.06790.06-0.03-0.63
0.34-0.0251.50.06570.06-0.03-0.66
0.32-0.02520.06300.06-0.02-0.69
0.29-0.0252.50.06010.06-0.02-0.72
0.26-0.02530.05700.05-0.02-0.74

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 17 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot404850.55355.5604390
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

spot254854659012510K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 41K call contracts, 10K 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: GBTC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk