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

IBIT max pain

Spot (delayed)$46
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$42-8.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.38±18.2% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.4521K puts / 48K calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3038.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2.1Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $50

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

spot42102234465870$81M$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 — 42 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot4210283338435021K21K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IBIT open contracts per strike for Fri, Feb 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, Feb 19

spot421028333843508K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot102234465870114%39%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 50102833384350+$1.4M−$1.4M
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, Feb 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.81-0.01390.02440.07-0.01-0.20
0.78-0.01400.02670.08-0.01-0.23
0.75-0.01410.02900.08-0.01-0.26
0.72-0.01420.03120.09-0.01-0.29
0.68-0.01430.03320.09-0.02-0.32
0.65-0.01440.03490.10-0.02-0.36
0.61-0.02450.03620.10-0.02-0.40
0.57-0.02460.03730.10-0.02-0.44
0.54-0.02470.03800.10-0.02-0.47
0.43-0.02500.03780.10-0.02-0.59
0.28-0.01550.03200.09-0.01-0.76
0.17-0.01600.02370.07-0.01-0.88
0.11-0.01650.01660.05-0.01-0.95
0.07-0.01700.01160.04-0.01-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 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

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