Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 11:56 PM ET

IONQ max pain

Spot (delayed)$31.89
Max pain · Fri, Oct 30$35+9.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.74±8.6% by Fri, Oct 30
Put/Call OI0.8720K puts / 23K calls
Call wall$35largest call OI
Put wall$24largest put OI
IV3077.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$79Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 23$33.5+5.0%2d
Fri, Oct 30$35+9.8%9d
Fri, Nov 6$37+16.0%16d
Fri, Nov 13$36+12.9%23d
Fri, Nov 20$40+25.4%30d
Fri, Nov 27$35+9.8%37d
Fri, Dec 18$40+25.4%58d
Fri, Jan 15$35+9.8%86d
Fri, Mar 19$40+25.4%149d
Fri, Apr 16$40+25.4%177d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot35203040506070$67M$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot352027.53338.543.5525K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IONQ open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 30.

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 30

spot352027.53338.543.5522K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot203040506070201%57%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 69.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot2027.53338.543.552+$270K−$270K
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 30

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.90-0.03280.04590.01-0.03-0.10
0.85-0.05290.06530.01-0.05-0.15
0.81-0.0529.50.07550.01-0.06-0.19
0.77-0.06300.08550.02-0.06-0.23
0.72-0.0730.50.09470.02-0.07-0.28
0.67-0.07310.10250.02-0.07-0.33
0.61-0.0831.50.10840.02-0.08-0.39
0.56-0.08320.11210.02-0.08-0.44
0.50-0.0832.50.11340.02-0.08-0.50
0.45-0.08330.11220.02-0.08-0.56
0.39-0.0833.50.10890.02-0.08-0.61
0.34-0.07340.10380.02-0.07-0.66
0.30-0.0734.50.09720.02-0.07-0.71
0.25-0.06350.08960.02-0.06-0.75
0.22-0.0635.50.08160.01-0.06-0.79

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 57 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot202833.538.543.5527K0
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

spot2.52433.5416010553K53K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 378K call contracts, 321K 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: IONQ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk