Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 12:15 AM ET

IBKR max pain

Spot (delayed)$80.65
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$90+11.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.5±11.8% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.489K puts / 18K calls
Call wall$90largest call OI
Put wall$80largest put OI
IV3038.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$971Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $90

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 30$85+5.4%5d
Fri, Nov 6$84+4.2%12d
Fri, Nov 13$82+1.7%19d
Fri, Nov 20$89+10.4%26d
Fri, Nov 27$86+6.6%33d
Fri, Dec 4$75-7.0%40d
Fri, Dec 18$90+11.6%54d
Fri, Jan 15$46.25-42.7%82d
Fri, Mar 19$75-7.0%145d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot9035567798119140$77M$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 — 90 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot90355575951151359K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IBKR 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

spot9035557595115135202202
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot35567798119140151%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 9035557595115135+$1.5M−$1.5M
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.00450.00080.01-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.00500.00160.01-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.01550.00320.02-0.01-0.02
0.96-0.01600.00630.03-0.01-0.04
0.91-0.02650.01170.05-0.02-0.09
0.84-0.03700.01960.08-0.03-0.17
0.71-0.04750.02840.11-0.04-0.29
0.55-0.04800.03420.12-0.04-0.45
0.38-0.04850.03370.12-0.04-0.63
0.24-0.03900.02760.10-0.03-0.77
0.14-0.02950.01950.07-0.02-0.88
0.07-0.011000.01230.04-0.02-0.96
0.04-0.011050.00720.03-0.00-0.99
0.02-0.001100.00400.01—-1.00
0.01-0.001150.00210.01—-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot73798591971036100
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

spot17.541.2553.75708310013K13K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 74K call contracts, 57K 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: IBKR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk