Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 12:24 AM ET

IXUS max pain

Spot (delayed)$92.81
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$88-5.2% vs spot
Put/Call OI0.158 puts / 52 calls
Call wall$90largest call OI
Put wall$89largest put OI
IV3017.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$14Kper 1% move

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$90-3.0%25d
Fri, Dec 18$98+5.6%53d
Fri, Feb 19$88-5.2%116d
Fri, May 21$87-6.3%207d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot8888929599102106$1M$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 — 88 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot88889096981031061616
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IXUS open contracts per strike for Fri, Feb 19.

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, Feb 19

spot888890969810310611
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot8892959910210625%17%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 17.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot88909698103106+$5K−$5K
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, Feb 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.71-0.02880.03310.18-0.02-0.33
0.68-0.02890.03610.19-0.02-0.36
0.65-0.02900.03910.19-0.02-0.40
0.57-0.02920.04450.20-0.02-0.48
0.39-0.01960.04460.20-0.01-0.68
0.35-0.01970.04220.20-0.01-0.72
0.32-0.01980.03950.19-0.01-0.75
0.29-0.01990.03660.18-0.01-0.78
0.21-0.011030.02700.15-0.01-0.85
0.19-0.011050.02340.14-0.01-0.87
0.18-0.011060.02180.14-0.01-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot78889497100106340
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

spot78838893981034343
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 203 call contracts, 83 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: IXUS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk