Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 11:24 PM ET

IBB max pain

Spot (delayed)$207.74
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$200-3.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$17.25±8.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI2.477K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$210largest call OI
Put wall$184largest put OI
IV3026.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$1.5Mper 1% move

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, Nov 20$205-1.3%26d
Fri, Dec 18$200-3.7%54d
Fri, Jan 15$200-3.7%82d
Fri, Mar 19$210+1.1%145d
Fri, May 21$175-15.8%208d
Thu, Jun 17$200-3.7%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot20065103141179217255$86M$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 — 200 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot200651401681791892351K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IBB 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

spot20065140168179189235196196
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot7511114718321925597%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot130164173181189225+$522K−$522K
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
0.88-0.041870.00990.17-0.04-0.13
0.87-0.041880.01050.18-0.04-0.14
0.85-0.041890.01110.19-0.04-0.15
0.84-0.041900.01170.20-0.04-0.16
0.77-0.051950.01480.25-0.06-0.23
0.69-0.062000.01740.29-0.07-0.32
0.59-0.072050.01890.32-0.07-0.41
0.50-0.072100.01910.32-0.08-0.51
0.41-0.072150.01820.32-0.08-0.60
0.33-0.072200.01650.29-0.07-0.68
0.26-0.072250.01450.27-0.07-0.75
0.21-0.062300.01240.24-0.06-0.81
0.17-0.052350.01040.20-0.06-0.85
0.13-0.052400.00870.18-0.05-0.89
0.11-0.042450.00720.15-0.05-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 55 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot701281651791902202K0
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

spot601201751851952254K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 20K call contracts, 29K 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: IBB workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk