Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 12:05 AM ET

IBIT max pain

Spot (delayed)$46
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$44-4.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.98±8.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.85388K puts / 457K calls
Call wall$52largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3038.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$16.9Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $49

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 23$46.5+1.1%today
Mon, Oct 26$47+2.2%3d
Tue, Oct 27$48+4.3%4d
Wed, Oct 28$47+2.2%5d
Thu, Oct 29$45.5-1.1%6d
Fri, Oct 30$47.5+3.3%7d
Fri, Nov 20$44-4.3%28d
Fri, Dec 18$43-6.5%56d
Fri, Jan 15$42-8.7%84d
Fri, Feb 19$42-8.7%119d
Fri, Mar 19$42-8.7%147d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot44203448627690$1.8B$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 — 44 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot4420304045505843K43K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IBIT open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot442030404550589K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot203448627690117%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 49203040455058+$4.5M−$4.5M
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.78-0.0342.50.05510.04-0.03-0.22
0.75-0.03430.05980.04-0.03-0.25
0.72-0.0343.50.06430.04-0.03-0.28
0.69-0.03440.06850.05-0.03-0.32
0.65-0.0344.50.07220.05-0.03-0.35
0.61-0.03450.07540.05-0.03-0.39
0.58-0.0345.50.07780.05-0.03-0.43
0.54-0.03460.07950.05-0.03-0.47
0.50-0.0346.50.08030.05-0.03-0.51
0.46-0.03470.08030.05-0.03-0.55
0.42-0.0347.50.07950.05-0.03-0.59
0.38-0.03480.07770.05-0.03-0.63
0.34-0.0348.50.07530.05-0.03-0.67
0.31-0.03490.07220.05-0.03-0.70
0.28-0.0349.50.06860.04-0.03-0.74

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 59 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot203742.54751.55842K0
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

spot12840485875306K306K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4.0M call contracts, 3.1M 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: IBIT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk