Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 12:03 AM ET

GBTC max pain

Spot (delayed)$62.66
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$40-36.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.85±12.5% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.091K puts / 15K calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3037.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$567Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $40

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, Oct 30$61-2.6%4d
Fri, Nov 6$60-4.2%11d
Fri, Nov 13$63+0.5%18d
Fri, Nov 20$64+2.1%25d
Fri, Nov 27$58-7.4%32d
Fri, Dec 4$64.5+2.9%39d
Fri, Dec 18$40-36.2%53d
Fri, Jan 15$50-20.2%81d
Fri, Mar 19$62-1.1%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot40253953678195$67M$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot4025475359657510K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GBTC 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

spot40254753596575150150
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot253953678195121%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 40254753596575+$129K−$129K
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
0.80-0.03560.02760.07-0.03-0.21
0.77-0.03570.03030.08-0.03-0.24
0.74-0.03580.03300.08-0.03-0.27
0.70-0.03590.03560.09-0.03-0.30
0.67-0.03600.03800.09-0.03-0.34
0.63-0.03610.04000.09-0.03-0.38
0.58-0.03620.04150.10-0.03-0.42
0.54-0.03630.04260.10-0.03-0.47
0.50-0.03640.04310.10-0.03-0.51
0.46-0.03650.04300.10-0.03-0.56
0.42-0.03660.04240.10-0.03-0.60
0.38-0.03670.04120.09-0.03-0.64
0.34-0.03680.03960.09-0.03-0.68
0.31-0.03690.03780.09-0.03-0.71
0.28-0.03700.03570.08-0.03-0.75

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 35 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot5058636669803580
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

spot255262699012010K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 38K call contracts, 12K 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 · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk