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

GBTC max pain

Spot (delayed)$48.57
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$40-17.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.1±18.7% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.04441 puts / 12K calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3032.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$530Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $40

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$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

spot40253851647790$53M$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

spot402547535965751010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot25385164779070%36%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 40254753596575+$449K$449K
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
0.95-0.01300.00620.03-0.01-0.05
0.90-0.01350.01180.05-0.01-0.10
0.82-0.01400.02010.07-0.01-0.18
0.69-0.02450.02940.10-0.02-0.31
0.66-0.02460.03100.10-0.02-0.34
0.63-0.02470.03250.11-0.02-0.38
0.59-0.02480.03370.11-0.02-0.41
0.56-0.02490.03460.11-0.02-0.45
0.52-0.02500.03520.11-0.02-0.48
0.49-0.02510.03560.11-0.02-0.52
0.45-0.02520.03560.11-0.02-0.56
0.42-0.02530.03530.11-0.02-0.59
0.39-0.02540.03470.11-0.02-0.63
0.36-0.02550.03380.11-0.02-0.66
0.33-0.02560.03280.10-0.02-0.69

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 34 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