Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 2:17 PM ET

IONS max pain

Spot (delayed)$43.53
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$52.5+20.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.45±19.4% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.448K puts / 17K calls
Call wall$65largest call OI
Put wall$52.5largest put OI
IV3054.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$113Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $65

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$45+3.4%25d
Fri, Dec 18$47.5+9.1%53d
Fri, Jan 15$52.5+20.6%81d
Fri, Apr 16$52.5+20.6%172d
Fri, Dec 17$55+26.3%417d
Fri, Jan 21$80+83.8%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot52.520416283104125$95M$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 — 52.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot52.52037.55572.5901203K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IONS 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

spot52.52037.55572.5901201414
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot20416283104125138%45%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 51.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 652037.55572.590120+$87K−$87K
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
0.96-0.01250.00550.02-0.01-0.04
0.95-0.0127.50.00790.02-0.01-0.06
0.92-0.01300.01120.03-0.01-0.08
0.89-0.0132.50.01540.04-0.01-0.12
0.84-0.02350.02080.05-0.02-0.16
0.78-0.0237.50.02680.06-0.02-0.23
0.70-0.02400.03270.07-0.02-0.30
0.61-0.0242.50.03700.08-0.03-0.40
0.52-0.03450.03890.08-0.03-0.50
0.43-0.0347.50.03810.08-0.03-0.59
0.35-0.02500.03530.08-0.02-0.67
0.28-0.0252.50.03160.07-0.02-0.74
0.23-0.02550.02770.06-0.02-0.80
0.19-0.0257.50.02390.06-0.02-0.84
0.15-0.02600.02060.05-0.02-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 37 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot22.537.552.567.582.51003K0
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

spot1532.55067.5851105K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 31K call contracts, 17K 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: IONS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk