Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 1:53 AM ET

ICLR max pain

Spot (delayed)$164.17
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$155-5.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$24.1±14.7% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI8.77228 puts / 26 calls
Call wall$200largest call OI
Put wall$130largest put OI
IV3055.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$35Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 16$165+0.5%2d
Fri, Nov 20$155-5.6%37d
Fri, Dec 18$120-26.9%65d
Fri, Jan 15$140-14.7%93d
Fri, Apr 16$145-11.7%184d
Fri, May 21$100-39.1%219d
Fri, Aug 20$95-42.1%310d
Fri, Nov 19$170+3.6%401d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot155130144158172186200$1M$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 — 155 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1551301451601751909090
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ICLR open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot15513014516017519022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot13014415817218620063%51%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 56.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot130145160175190+$16K−$16K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.90-0.071300.00520.09-0.07-0.10
0.87-0.091350.00660.11-0.09-0.13
0.83-0.101400.00800.13-0.10-0.17
0.79-0.121450.00940.16-0.12-0.22
0.73-0.131500.01080.18-0.13-0.27
0.67-0.141550.01200.19-0.14-0.33
0.61-0.151600.01300.20-0.15-0.40
0.54-0.151650.01350.21-0.15-0.46
0.47-0.151700.01360.21-0.15-0.53
0.41-0.151750.01340.21-0.15-0.60
0.35-0.141800.01270.20-0.14-0.66
0.29-0.131850.01180.18-0.13-0.72
0.24-0.121900.01080.17-0.12-0.77
0.20-0.111950.00960.15-0.11-0.81
0.17-0.102000.00840.13-0.10-0.85

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot40801151501852405250
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

spot3575115155195270552552
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 2K 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: ICLR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk