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

IBIT max pain

Spot (delayed)$46
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$43-6.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.61±12.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.62245K puts / 397K calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3038.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$13.8Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $49

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 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

spot4352239567390$1.3B$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 — 43 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot435314151617149K49K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IBIT 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

spot43531415161713K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot102642587490152%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 49103242526272+$3.4M−$3.4M
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
0.86-0.01390.02780.04-0.01-0.14
0.83-0.01400.03250.05-0.02-0.17
0.80-0.02410.03740.05-0.02-0.21
0.76-0.02420.04240.06-0.02-0.25
0.71-0.02430.04710.06-0.02-0.29
0.66-0.02440.05120.07-0.02-0.34
0.61-0.02450.05430.07-0.02-0.40
0.55-0.02460.05630.07-0.02-0.46
0.49-0.02470.05710.07-0.02-0.51
0.44-0.02480.05660.07-0.02-0.57
0.39-0.02490.05500.07-0.02-0.63
0.34-0.02500.05250.07-0.02-0.68
0.29-0.02510.04920.06-0.02-0.72
0.25-0.02520.04540.06-0.02-0.77
0.21-0.02530.04140.05-0.02-0.81

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 58 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