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

IIPR max pain

Spot (delayed)$52.04
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$50-3.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11±21.1% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI0.96240 puts / 249 calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV3037.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4Kper 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

spot50304050607080$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 — 50 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot503040506070808585
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IIPR 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

spot5030405060708033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot30405060708052%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spotflip 60304050607080+$7K−$7K
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
1.000.00300.00160.01-0.01-0.05
0.98-0.00350.00610.02-0.01-0.10
0.92-0.01400.01530.05-0.01-0.18
0.80-0.01450.02700.09-0.01-0.30
0.63-0.01500.03500.12-0.01-0.46
0.46-0.01550.03600.13-0.01-0.61
0.31-0.01600.03130.11-0.01-0.75
0.20-0.01650.02430.09-0.01-0.84
0.13-0.01700.01780.07-0.01-0.90
0.09-0.01750.01270.05-0.00-0.94
0.06-0.00800.00920.04-0.00-0.96

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

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