Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 12:11 AM ET

ICHR max pain

Spot (delayed)$37.9
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$42.5+12.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.05±29.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.591K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV30105.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$17Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $27.5

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, Nov 20$52.5+38.5%25d
Fri, Dec 18$42.5+12.1%53d
Fri, Feb 19$52.5+38.5%116d
Fri, May 21$45+18.7%207d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot42.58386999130160$23M$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 — 42.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot42.57.53052.57597.5140307307
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ICHR 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

spot42.57.53052.57597.51401010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot8386999130160344%79%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 94.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 27.57.53052.57597.5140+$7K−$7K
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
0.95-0.02200.00620.02-0.02-0.06
0.92-0.0222.50.00870.02-0.02-0.08
0.89-0.03250.01180.03-0.03-0.12
0.84-0.0327.50.01540.04-0.03-0.16
0.79-0.04300.01910.04-0.04-0.21
0.73-0.0432.50.02260.05-0.04-0.27
0.67-0.05350.02560.05-0.05-0.34
0.60-0.0537.50.02770.06-0.05-0.41
0.53-0.05400.02870.06-0.05-0.48
0.46-0.0542.50.02870.06-0.05-0.55
0.40-0.05450.02790.06-0.05-0.61
0.35-0.0547.50.02640.06-0.05-0.66
0.30-0.04500.02460.05-0.04-0.71
0.26-0.0452.50.02270.05-0.04-0.75
0.23-0.04550.02070.04-0.04-0.79

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 50 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot7.53052.57597.51405140
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

spot2.52547.57092.5130708708
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K call contracts, 5K 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: ICHR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk