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

IONQ max pain

Spot (delayed)$31.89
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$40+25.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.95±18.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.5738K puts / 67K calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3077.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$124Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $12.5

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 — 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

spot4010366288114140$555M$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot40102733387012016K16K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IONQ open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot401027333870120736736
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot13386489115140234%67%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 81.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 12.512.52732.53755100+$359K−$359K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.77-0.04280.04050.03-0.04-0.23
0.73-0.04290.04530.03-0.04-0.28
0.70-0.0429.50.04740.03-0.04-0.30
0.68-0.04300.04930.03-0.04-0.33
0.65-0.0430.50.05100.03-0.04-0.35
0.62-0.04310.05240.04-0.05-0.38
0.59-0.0531.50.05350.04-0.05-0.41
0.57-0.05320.05440.04-0.05-0.43
0.54-0.0532.50.05490.04-0.05-0.46
0.51-0.05330.05520.04-0.05-0.49
0.49-0.0533.50.05510.04-0.05-0.52
0.46-0.05340.05480.04-0.05-0.54
0.43-0.0534.50.05430.04-0.05-0.57
0.41-0.05350.05350.04-0.05-0.59
0.39-0.0535.50.05250.04-0.05-0.62

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 55 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