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

ICLR max pain

Spot (delayed)$164.17
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$145-11.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$44.5±27.1% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI0.8350 puts / 60 calls
Call wall$200largest call OI
Put wall$125largest put OI
IV3055.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $200

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

spot145100132164196228260$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 — 145 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot1451001351601902102020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ICLR open contracts per strike for Fri, Apr 16.

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, Apr 16

spot14510013516019021011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot10013216419622826058%46%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 48.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spotflip 200125145180195250+$3K−$3K
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, Apr 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.93-0.011000.00200.15-0.02-0.07
0.84-0.031250.00400.29-0.04-0.17
0.81-0.031300.00450.32-0.04-0.19
0.78-0.041350.00490.34-0.05-0.22
0.72-0.041450.00570.39-0.05-0.28
0.69-0.051500.00610.41-0.05-0.31
0.62-0.051600.00660.44-0.06-0.38
0.49-0.061800.00720.47-0.06-0.53
0.45-0.061850.00720.46-0.06-0.56
0.42-0.061900.00710.46-0.06-0.60
0.39-0.051950.00700.45-0.05-0.63
0.36-0.052000.00680.44-0.05-0.66
0.31-0.052100.00640.41-0.05-0.72
0.15-0.032500.00430.27-0.03-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 15 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