Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 2:36 PM ET

QBTS max pain

Spot (delayed)$11.64
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$15+28.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.36±28.8% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.80113K puts / 141K calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV3086.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$148Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: 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$12+3.1%2d
Fri, Nov 6$12.5+7.4%9d
Fri, Nov 13$12.5+7.4%16d
Fri, Nov 20$16+37.5%23d
Fri, Nov 27$13+11.7%30d
Fri, Dec 4$16+37.5%37d
Fri, Dec 18$12+3.1%51d
Fri, Jan 15$15+28.9%79d
Fri, Mar 19$13+11.7%142d
Fri, Apr 16$14+20.3%170d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1511427395265$530M$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot151122028364423K23K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)QBTS 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

spot15112202836446464
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot11427395265294%71%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 76.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot11220283644+$143K−$143K
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
1.00—20.00050.000.00-0.00
1.00—30.00160.000.00-0.00
0.990.0040.00410.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.0050.00880.00-0.00-0.02
0.93-0.0070.02820.01-0.00-0.07
0.74-0.01100.07650.02-0.01-0.27
0.65-0.01110.08870.02-0.01-0.36
0.55-0.01120.09510.02-0.01-0.45
0.47-0.01130.09540.02-0.01-0.54
0.39-0.01140.09110.02-0.01-0.62
0.32-0.01150.08400.02-0.01-0.69
0.26-0.01160.07560.02-0.01-0.75
0.22-0.01170.06710.02-0.01-0.80
0.18-0.01180.05910.01-0.01-0.84
0.15-0.01190.05180.01-0.01-0.87

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 48 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot7.51114.51821.5276K0
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

spot1101622334552K52K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 359K call contracts, 245K 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: QBTS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk