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

IOVA max pain

Spot (delayed)$14.09
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$8-43.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.83±41.3% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.6584K puts / 129K calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV30112.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$356Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $1.5

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 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

spot81612182430$247M$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 — 8 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot80.52.54.5102034K34K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IOVA 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

spot80.52.54.51020148148
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1612182430342%93%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 105.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 1.50.52.54.51020+$206K−$206K
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
0.97-0.0040.00520.00-0.00-0.02
0.97-0.004.50.00640.00-0.00-0.03
0.96-0.0150.00780.01-0.00-0.03
0.96-0.015.50.00940.01-0.01-0.04
0.90-0.0180.02170.01-0.01-0.10
0.82-0.01100.03550.02-0.01-0.17
0.72-0.01120.04840.02-0.01-0.28
0.55-0.02150.05840.03-0.02-0.45
0.44-0.02170.05850.03-0.02-0.56
0.32-0.01200.05260.02-0.01-0.69
0.24-0.0122.50.04530.02-0.01-0.77
0.18-0.01250.03780.02-0.01-0.83
0.10-0.01300.02520.01-0.01-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 20 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