Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 12:24 AM ET

IEF max pain

Spot (delayed)$91.1
Max pain · Wed, Oct 28$91-0.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.58±0.6% by Wed, Oct 28
Put/Call OI0.63257 puts / 405 calls
Call wall$92largest call OI
Put wall$91largest put OI
IV307.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$364Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $85

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Mon, Oct 26$89-2.3%today
Wed, Oct 28$91-0.1%2d
Fri, Oct 30$90-1.2%4d
Mon, Nov 2$91-0.1%7d
Wed, Nov 4$90-1.2%9d
Fri, Nov 6$89.5-1.8%11d
Fri, Nov 20$90-1.2%25d
Fri, Dec 18$91-0.1%53d
Fri, Jan 15$92+1.0%81d
Fri, Mar 19$90-1.2%144d
Fri, Apr 16$89-2.3%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot91747882858993$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 — 91 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Wed, Oct 28

spot917485899193301301
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IEF open contracts per strike for Wed, Oct 28.

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 · Wed, Oct 28

spot91748589919366
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Wed, Oct 28

spot85878890919324%6%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 6.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Wed, Oct 28

spotflip 857485899193+$1.1M−$1.1M
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 · Wed, Oct 28

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.00-0.00740.00070.00-0.00-0.00
1.00-0.00750.00080.00-0.00-0.00
0.99-0.00850.00650.00-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.00860.00900.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.00890.04000.01-0.00-0.02
0.94-0.01900.16560.01-0.01-0.06
0.54-0.03910.55000.04-0.03-0.47
0.14-0.02920.26240.03-0.02-0.88
0.03-0.01930.06980.01-0.01-0.98

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

spot74808890.59395.562K0
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

spot507284.591.599113144K144K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 947K call contracts, 609K 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: IEF workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk