Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 22, 11:10 PM ET

IESC max pain

Spot (delayed)$219
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$240+9.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$91.4±41.7% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI0.54153 puts / 285 calls
Call wall$490largest call OI
Put wall$170largest put OI
IV3091.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$9Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $170

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, Nov 20$240+9.6%28d
Fri, Dec 18$250+14.2%56d
Fri, Jan 15$240+9.6%84d
Fri, Apr 16$240+9.6%175d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot240130208286364442520$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 — 240 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot240130190270325365435139139
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IESC 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

spot2401301902703253654351010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot13020828636444252079%64%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 75.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spotflip 170130200280330370440+$11K−$11K
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
0.85-0.071600.00220.40-0.08-0.17
0.83-0.081650.00240.42-0.09-0.19
0.81-0.081700.00250.44-0.09-0.21
0.77-0.101850.00280.49-0.10-0.26
0.75-0.101900.00290.51-0.11-0.28
0.71-0.112000.00310.54-0.11-0.31
0.68-0.112100.00320.57-0.12-0.35
0.65-0.122200.00340.59-0.12-0.38
0.61-0.122300.00340.60-0.13-0.42
0.58-0.122400.00350.61-0.13-0.45
0.55-0.132500.00350.62-0.13-0.48
0.52-0.132600.00360.62-0.13-0.52
0.49-0.132700.00360.62-0.13-0.55
0.46-0.132800.00350.62-0.13-0.58
0.43-0.132900.00350.61-0.13-0.61

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 44 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1001852503153754803260
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

spot95175235305370490346346
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 3K 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: IESC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk