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

ILMN max pain

Spot (delayed)$281.6
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$220-21.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$83.75±29.7% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.69372 puts / 543 calls
Call wall$300largest call OI
Put wall$180largest put OI
IV3069.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$80Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $270

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

spot220105168231294357420$7M$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 — 220 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot220105140175220290360108108
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ILMN open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

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, Mar 19

spot22010514017522029036033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot10516823129435742089%59%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 60.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 270105145180230300370+$31K−$31K
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.83-0.092100.00230.44-0.10-0.17
0.80-0.102200.00250.49-0.10-0.20
0.77-0.112300.00280.53-0.11-0.23
0.74-0.122400.00300.57-0.12-0.27
0.70-0.122500.00320.61-0.13-0.30
0.67-0.132600.00340.64-0.14-0.34
0.63-0.142700.00360.66-0.14-0.38
0.59-0.142800.00360.68-0.14-0.41
0.56-0.142900.00370.69-0.15-0.45
0.52-0.143000.00380.70-0.15-0.49
0.48-0.143100.00380.70-0.15-0.52
0.45-0.143200.00380.69-0.14-0.56
0.42-0.143300.00370.68-0.14-0.59
0.39-0.143400.00360.67-0.14-0.63
0.36-0.133500.00360.65-0.14-0.66

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 42 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