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

IONS max pain

Spot (delayed)$43.53
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$80+83.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$18.15±41.7% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.883K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$80largest call OI
Put wall$80largest put OI
IV3054.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$22Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $70

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

spot8023436484105125$17M$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 — 80 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot8022.542.557.572.587.51102K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IONS open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 21.

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 21

spot8022.542.557.572.587.511011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot2343648410512570%45%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 48.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spotflip 7022.542.557.572.587.5110+$22K−$22K
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 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.92-0.0022.50.00510.07-0.01-0.08
0.84-0.00300.00920.11-0.01-0.16
0.81-0.0132.50.01070.13-0.01-0.19
0.78-0.01350.01220.14-0.01-0.23
0.74-0.0137.50.01360.16-0.01-0.27
0.70-0.01400.01480.17-0.01-0.31
0.66-0.0142.50.01580.18-0.01-0.35
0.62-0.01450.01650.18-0.01-0.40
0.58-0.0147.50.01700.19-0.01-0.44
0.54-0.01500.01720.19-0.01-0.49
0.51-0.0152.50.01720.19-0.01-0.53
0.47-0.01550.01710.19-0.01-0.57
0.44-0.0157.50.01680.19-0.01-0.60
0.42-0.01600.01650.19-0.01-0.64

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 34 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