Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 12:40 AM ET

ILMN max pain

Spot (delayed)$281.6
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$150-46.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$63.1±22.4% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.403K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$230largest call OI
Put wall$110largest put OI
IV3069.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$876Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $135

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$290+3.0%24d
Fri, Dec 18$210-25.4%52d
Fri, Jan 15$150-46.7%80d
Fri, Mar 19$220-21.9%143d
Thu, Jun 17$210-25.4%233d
Fri, Jan 21$125-55.6%451d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot15035112189266343420$136M$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 — 150 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot15035851351852703701K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ILMN open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot15035851351852703704848
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot35112189266343420236%60%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 60.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 13570115160210300390+$341K−$341K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.87-0.102100.00250.28-0.11-0.13
0.84-0.122200.00300.32-0.13-0.16
0.80-0.142300.00340.37-0.14-0.20
0.76-0.152400.00380.41-0.16-0.24
0.71-0.172500.00420.45-0.17-0.29
0.67-0.182600.00450.48-0.18-0.34
0.62-0.192700.00480.50-0.19-0.39
0.57-0.192800.00490.51-0.20-0.44
0.52-0.202900.00500.52-0.20-0.49
0.47-0.203000.00500.52-0.20-0.53
0.42-0.193100.00490.51-0.19-0.58
0.38-0.193200.00480.50-0.19-0.63
0.34-0.183300.00460.48-0.18-0.67
0.30-0.173400.00440.46-0.17-0.71
0.27-0.163500.00420.43-0.16-0.74

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 56 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot35851351852703701K0
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

spot35851351852703702K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 15K call contracts, 10K 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: ILMN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk