Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 11:15 PM ET

INSM max pain

Spot (delayed)$94
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$115+22.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$26.5±28.2% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.842K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$160largest call OI
Put wall$115largest put OI
IV3065.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$76Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $55

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$97.5+3.7%25d
Fri, Dec 18$92.5-1.6%53d
Fri, Jan 15$110+17.0%81d
Fri, Feb 19$100+6.4%116d
Fri, Mar 19$115+22.3%144d
Fri, May 21$105+11.7%207d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1154878109139170200$15M$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 — 115 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot11547.58097.51251551902K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)INSM 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

spot11547.58097.512515519011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot487810913917020073%52%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 56.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 5547.58097.5125155190+$206K−$206K
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
0.85-0.03700.00680.14-0.03-0.16
0.81-0.03750.00820.17-0.03-0.20
0.75-0.04800.00960.19-0.04-0.26
0.70-0.04850.01070.21-0.04-0.31
0.67-0.0487.50.01120.21-0.04-0.34
0.64-0.04900.01160.22-0.04-0.37
0.61-0.0492.50.01190.23-0.04-0.40
0.58-0.04950.01210.23-0.04-0.43
0.55-0.0497.50.01220.23-0.04-0.47
0.52-0.041000.01230.23-0.04-0.50
0.46-0.041050.01230.23-0.04-0.56
0.41-0.041100.01200.23-0.04-0.61
0.36-0.041150.01150.22-0.04-0.66
0.32-0.041200.01090.21-0.04-0.71
0.28-0.041250.01020.20-0.04-0.75

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 33 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot32.572.597.514018526013K0
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

spot32.5608512017024017K17K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 76K call contracts, 39K 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: INSM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk