Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 6, 11:41 AM ET

INCY max pain

Spot (delayed)$119.48
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$100-16.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$24.25±20.3% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.832K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$165largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3034.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$81Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $60

Event risk before this expiration: CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · 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 · 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, Aug 21$115-3.7%14d
Fri, Sep 18$110-7.9%42d
Fri, Dec 18$110-7.9%133d
Fri, Jan 15$100-16.3%161d
Fri, Mar 19$120+0.4%224d
Fri, Dec 17$75-37.2%497d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot100305988117146175$11M$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 — 100 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1003052.572.592.51251651K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)INCY 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

spot1003052.572.592.512516533
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot305988117146175131%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 60305072.590115150+$115K$115K
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
0.87-0.0292.50.00620.17-0.02-0.13
0.85-0.02950.00690.19-0.02-0.15
0.83-0.0297.50.00760.20-0.03-0.17
0.81-0.021000.00830.22-0.03-0.19
0.76-0.031050.00960.25-0.03-0.24
0.71-0.031100.01090.28-0.03-0.30
0.65-0.031150.01200.30-0.04-0.36
0.59-0.031200.01270.31-0.04-0.43
0.52-0.041250.01320.32-0.04-0.50
0.46-0.041300.01320.32-0.04-0.57
0.40-0.031350.01300.31-0.04-0.63
0.34-0.031400.01240.29-0.03-0.69
0.29-0.031450.01160.28-0.03-0.75
0.24-0.031500.01070.25-0.03-0.81
0.20-0.031550.00960.23-0.02-0.85

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 43 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot457592.51101351601K0
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

spot305070901201606K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K call contracts, 15K 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: INCY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk