Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 31, 12:12 PM ET

IIPR max pain

Spot (delayed)$52.04
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$55+5.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.88±11.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.903K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV3037.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$79Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $60

Event risk before this expiration: 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$50-3.9%19d
Fri, Dec 18$55+5.7%47d
Fri, Jan 15$55+5.7%75d
Fri, Apr 16$50-3.9%166d
Thu, Jun 17$55+5.7%228d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot55304356698295$9M$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 — 55 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot5530456075901K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IIPR 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

spot5530456075904040
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot30435669829591%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 35.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 603045607590+$86K−$86K
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
1.00-0.00300.00170.00-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.01350.00440.01-0.01-0.02
0.96-0.01400.01110.02-0.01-0.05
0.88-0.02450.02640.04-0.02-0.13
0.70-0.03500.05150.07-0.03-0.32
0.41-0.03550.06040.07-0.03-0.64
0.19-0.02600.03990.05-0.02-0.89
0.09-0.01650.02140.03-0.01-0.98
0.04-0.01700.01150.020.00-1.00
0.03-0.01750.00660.01—-1.00
0.01-0.00800.00400.01—-1.00
0.01-0.00850.00260.01—-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot30456075902K0
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

spot30456075902K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K call contracts, 5K 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: IIPR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk