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

IEF max pain

Spot (delayed)$91.1
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$91-0.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.34±2.6% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.79121K puts / 154K calls
Call wall$94largest call OI
Put wall$90largest put OI
IV307.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3.9Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $96

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
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

spot9170778592100107$230M$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 · Fri, Dec 18

spot91707886929810743K43K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IEF 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

spot917078869298107714714
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot7077859210010724%8%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 7.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 967078869298107+$39.0M−$39.0M
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
0.99-0.00840.00980.01-0.00-0.03
0.98-0.00850.01760.02-0.00-0.04
0.97-0.00860.03110.03-0.00-0.07
0.94-0.00870.05190.05-0.01-0.10
0.88-0.01880.07920.07-0.01-0.17
0.79-0.01890.11170.10-0.01-0.27
0.67-0.01900.14160.13-0.01-0.39
0.52-0.01910.15250.14-0.01-0.54
0.37-0.01920.13920.13-0.01-0.67
0.26-0.01930.11310.11-0.01-0.78
0.17-0.01940.08500.09-0.01-0.85
0.11-0.01950.06010.07-0.00-0.91
0.07-0.00960.04140.05-0.00-0.94
0.05-0.00970.02900.04-0.00-0.96
0.03-0.00980.02070.03-0.00-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 31 are in the CSV. 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