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

ICLR max pain

Spot (delayed)$164.17
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$120-26.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$28.9±17.6% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.29677 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$120largest call OI
Put wall$80largest put OI
IV3055.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$393Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $65

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 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

spot1204090140190240290$33M$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 — 120 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot1204080115150185240446446
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ICLR 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

spot120408011515018524011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot4090140190240290165%49%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 51.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 656090125155185230+$122K−$122K
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
0.86-0.061300.00540.15-0.07-0.14
0.83-0.071350.00630.17-0.07-0.17
0.80-0.081400.00730.20-0.08-0.20
0.75-0.091450.00830.22-0.09-0.25
0.71-0.091500.00920.24-0.10-0.29
0.66-0.101550.01000.26-0.10-0.34
0.60-0.101600.01060.27-0.10-0.40
0.55-0.111650.01100.28-0.11-0.45
0.49-0.111700.01120.28-0.11-0.51
0.44-0.101750.01110.28-0.11-0.56
0.39-0.101800.01080.27-0.10-0.62
0.34-0.101850.01040.26-0.10-0.67
0.30-0.091900.00980.24-0.09-0.71
0.26-0.091950.00910.23-0.09-0.75
0.22-0.082000.00840.21-0.08-0.79

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 40 are in the CSV. 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