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

IBIT max pain

Spot (delayed)$46
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$42-8.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.43±20.5% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.61233K puts / 383K calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3038.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$9.5Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $54

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

spot4211937547290$1.1B$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, Mar 19

spot421283747577050K50K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IBIT 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

spot42128374757702K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot82441577490118%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 40.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 5482938485875+$2.5M−$2.5M
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.82-0.01380.02080.08-0.01-0.19
0.79-0.01390.02270.09-0.01-0.21
0.77-0.01400.02450.09-0.01-0.24
0.71-0.01420.02800.10-0.01-0.30
0.68-0.01430.02950.10-0.01-0.33
0.65-0.01440.03090.11-0.01-0.36
0.62-0.01450.03200.11-0.01-0.39
0.58-0.01460.03290.12-0.02-0.43
0.55-0.01470.03350.12-0.02-0.46
0.52-0.01480.03380.12-0.02-0.50
0.49-0.01490.03390.12-0.02-0.53
0.45-0.01500.03380.12-0.02-0.57
0.42-0.01510.03340.12-0.01-0.60
0.39-0.01520.03280.11-0.01-0.63
0.37-0.01530.03200.11-0.01-0.66

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 52 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