Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 11:06 AM ET

IMTX max pain

Spot (delayed)$9.25
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$5-45.9% vs spot
Put/Call OI0.1632 puts / 197 calls
Call wall$5largest call OI
Put wall$11largest put OI
IV3098.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$979per 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$9-2.7%3d
Fri, Sep 18$11+18.9%31d
Fri, Oct 16$5-45.9%59d
Fri, Jan 15$10+8.1%150d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot55810131518$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot558111318100100
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IMTX open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 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, Oct 16

spot55811131811
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot5810131518290%74%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 170.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot58111318+$943$943
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, Oct 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.90-0.0150.03020.01-0.01-0.10
0.80-0.0170.06900.01-0.01-0.19
0.72-0.0180.09920.01-0.01-0.28
0.46-0.01100.13600.01-0.01-0.53
0.35-0.01110.12320.01-0.01-0.64
0.28-0.01120.10500.01-0.01-0.72
0.23-0.01130.08860.01-0.01-0.77
0.16-0.01150.06490.01-0.01-0.83
0.11-0.01180.04430.01-0.01-0.89

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

spot11012151000
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

spot1591317133133
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 278 call contracts, 121 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: IMTX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk