Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 11:02 PM ET

GBTC max pain

Spot (delayed)$61.63
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$52-15.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.6±14.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.515K puts / 9K calls
Call wall$80largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV3037.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$335Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $60

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$61-1.0%3d
Fri, Nov 6$60-2.6%10d
Fri, Nov 13$63+2.2%17d
Fri, Nov 20$63+2.2%24d
Fri, Nov 27$58-5.9%31d
Fri, Dec 4$64.5+4.7%38d
Fri, Dec 18$40-35.1%52d
Fri, Jan 15$52-15.6%80d
Fri, Mar 19$62+0.6%143d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot5225487194117140$55M$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 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot5225465370951201K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GBTC open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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 15

spot5225465370951203333
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot2548719411714092%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 602546537095120+$96K−$96K
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 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.91-0.01470.01140.05-0.01-0.09
0.89-0.01490.01420.06-0.02-0.11
0.88-0.02500.01580.06-0.02-0.13
0.84-0.02520.01930.07-0.02-0.16
0.82-0.02530.02120.08-0.02-0.18
0.80-0.02540.02320.08-0.02-0.21
0.78-0.02550.02530.09-0.02-0.23
0.62-0.03600.03420.11-0.03-0.39
0.45-0.03650.03650.12-0.03-0.57
0.29-0.02700.03120.10-0.02-0.73
0.19-0.02750.02340.08-0.02-0.85
0.12-0.01800.01680.06-0.02-0.92
0.08-0.01850.01200.04-0.01-0.97
0.06-0.01900.00860.03-0.01-0.99
0.04-0.01950.00630.03-0.01-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 30 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot5057.562.565.568.5753580
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

spot255261688511510K10K
■ 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