Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 1:20 AM ET

IONX max pain

Spot (delayed)$12.96
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$20+54.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.55±35.1% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.511K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$24largest put OI
IV30155.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $20

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, Nov 20$20+54.3%26d
Fri, Dec 18$14+8.0%54d
Fri, Feb 19$21+62.0%117d
Fri, May 21$14+8.0%208d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot208366593122150$21M$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot20818284070120607607
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IONX 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

spot208182840701203434
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot8366593122150394%134%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 160.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 2081625334375+$4K−$4K
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
0.89-0.0280.03150.01-0.02-0.11
0.84-0.0390.04110.01-0.03-0.16
0.78-0.03100.05080.01-0.03-0.22
0.71-0.04110.05940.01-0.03-0.28
0.64-0.04120.06570.01-0.04-0.35
0.57-0.04130.06930.01-0.04-0.42
0.51-0.04140.07040.01-0.04-0.49
0.44-0.04150.06940.01-0.04-0.55
0.39-0.04160.06690.01-0.04-0.60
0.34-0.04170.06340.01-0.04-0.65
0.30-0.04180.05940.01-0.04-0.69
0.26-0.03190.05510.01-0.03-0.73
0.23-0.03200.05090.01-0.03-0.76

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 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

spot7192942641056090
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

spot81624334980610610
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 2K 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: IONX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk