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

GBTC max pain

Spot (delayed)$61.63
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$62+0.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$12.35±20.0% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.462K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$50largest call OI
Put wall$62largest put OI
IV3037.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$72Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $35

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

spot62304356698295$6M$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 — 62 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot623043485460751K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GBTC open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

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, Mar 19

spot623043485460751919
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot30435669829562%39%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 35304348546075+$85K−$85K
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.76-0.02540.01900.12-0.02-0.24
0.74-0.02550.02000.13-0.02-0.27
0.70-0.02570.02200.14-0.02-0.31
0.67-0.02580.02280.14-0.02-0.34
0.65-0.02590.02360.14-0.02-0.36
0.63-0.02600.02430.15-0.02-0.39
0.60-0.02610.02490.15-0.02-0.41
0.57-0.02620.02540.15-0.02-0.44
0.50-0.02650.02610.15-0.02-0.52
0.38-0.02700.02500.15-0.02-0.65
0.28-0.02750.02200.13-0.02-0.75
0.21-0.01800.01830.11-0.02-0.84
0.15-0.01850.01470.09-0.01-0.91
0.11-0.01900.01160.07-0.01-0.96
0.08-0.01950.00910.06-0.01-0.99

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