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

IONQ max pain

Spot (delayed)$31.89
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$40+25.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.77±36.9% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.4011K puts / 27K calls
Call wall$45largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3077.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$168Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $45

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, 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

spot4018426791116140$197M$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, Mar 19

spot4017.53560851101354K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IONQ 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

spot4017.5356085110135110110
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot18426791116140100%72%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 74.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 4517.5356085110135+$80K−$80K
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
0.93-0.0017.50.00790.03-0.01-0.06
0.90-0.01200.01140.04-0.01-0.10
0.85-0.0122.50.01520.05-0.01-0.15
0.79-0.01250.01870.06-0.01-0.21
0.67-0.02300.02380.07-0.02-0.34
0.54-0.02350.02590.08-0.02-0.46
0.43-0.02400.02540.08-0.02-0.58
0.34-0.02450.02340.08-0.02-0.67
0.27-0.02500.02080.07-0.01-0.74
0.22-0.01550.01820.06-0.01-0.80
0.18-0.01600.01570.05-0.01-0.85
0.14-0.01650.01360.05-0.01-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 27 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