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

ICLR max pain

Spot (delayed)$164.17
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$140-14.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$32.75±19.9% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.2075 puts / 372 calls
Call wall$200largest call OI
Put wall$190largest put OI
IV3055.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$69Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $105

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

spot14065104143182221260$3M$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 — 140 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot14065105140165190230100100
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ICLR open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot1406510514016519023011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot65104143182221260110%46%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 49.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 10565105140165190230+$22K−$22K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.85-0.051300.00520.20-0.06-0.15
0.81-0.061350.00600.22-0.06-0.18
0.78-0.061400.00670.25-0.07-0.22
0.74-0.071450.00750.27-0.07-0.26
0.70-0.071500.00820.29-0.08-0.30
0.66-0.081550.00880.31-0.08-0.35
0.61-0.081600.00930.32-0.08-0.40
0.56-0.081650.00970.33-0.08-0.45
0.51-0.081700.00990.33-0.08-0.49
0.46-0.081750.00990.33-0.08-0.54
0.42-0.081800.00980.33-0.08-0.59
0.37-0.081850.00950.32-0.08-0.64
0.33-0.071900.00910.30-0.07-0.68
0.29-0.071950.00870.29-0.07-0.72
0.26-0.072000.00810.27-0.07-0.76

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 29 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