Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 12:20 AM ET

IOVA max pain

Spot (delayed)$14.09
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$12.5-11.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.68±26.1% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.586K puts / 11K calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV30112.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$70Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

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 30$11-21.9%4d
Fri, Nov 6$12.5-11.3%11d
Fri, Nov 13$14-0.6%18d
Fri, Nov 20$12.5-11.3%25d
Fri, Nov 27$14.5+2.9%32d
Fri, Dec 4$14-0.6%39d
Fri, Dec 18$7.5-46.8%53d
Fri, Jan 15$8-43.2%81d
Fri, Mar 19$7.5-46.8%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12.551015202530$16M$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 — 12.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot12.55101315.518213K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IOVA 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

spot12.55101315.51821254254
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot51015202530217%96%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 119.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 7.55101315.51821+$21K−$21K
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
0.88-0.02100.04210.01-0.02-0.12
0.82-0.02110.05740.01-0.02-0.18
0.79-0.0211.50.06530.01-0.02-0.21
0.75-0.03120.07270.01-0.03-0.25
0.70-0.0312.50.07920.01-0.03-0.29
0.66-0.03130.08460.01-0.03-0.34
0.61-0.0313.50.08850.01-0.03-0.38
0.57-0.03140.09100.01-0.03-0.43
0.52-0.0314.50.09200.02-0.03-0.47
0.48-0.03150.09170.02-0.03-0.52
0.44-0.0315.50.09030.01-0.03-0.56
0.40-0.03160.08800.01-0.03-0.60
0.36-0.0316.50.08500.01-0.03-0.63
0.33-0.03170.08140.01-0.03-0.67
0.30-0.0317.50.07760.01-0.03-0.70

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 30 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot26.510.513.516.519.57K0
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

spot0.55.510.515.520.525.549K49K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 270K call contracts, 156K 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: IOVA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk