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

IBB max pain

Spot (delayed)$207.74
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$210+1.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$27.6±13.3% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.293K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$250largest call OI
Put wall$178largest put OI
IV3026.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$242Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $160

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

spot210130155180205230255$19M$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 — 210 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot2101301751831911992352K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IBB 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

spot210130175183191199235118118
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot13015518020523025547%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 160130176184192200240+$639K−$639K
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
0.70-0.041950.00960.46-0.04-0.30
0.69-0.041960.00970.46-0.04-0.31
0.68-0.041970.00990.47-0.04-0.33
0.67-0.041980.01000.47-0.05-0.34
0.66-0.041990.01020.48-0.05-0.35
0.65-0.042000.01030.49-0.05-0.36
0.59-0.052050.01090.51-0.05-0.41
0.54-0.052100.01120.52-0.05-0.47
0.48-0.052150.01130.52-0.05-0.53
0.43-0.052200.01120.52-0.05-0.59
0.38-0.042250.01090.50-0.05-0.64
0.33-0.042300.01040.48-0.05-0.70
0.28-0.042350.00970.45-0.04-0.75
0.24-0.042400.00900.41-0.04-0.79
0.21-0.032450.00820.38-0.04-0.84

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 45 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