Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 3:13 AM ET

VAC max pain

Spot (delayed)$109.31
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$110+0.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$12.55±11.5% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.57874 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$115largest call OI
Put wall$70largest put OI
IV3047.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$276Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $70

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$110+0.6%25d
Fri, Dec 18$70-36.0%53d
Fri, Jan 15$100-8.5%81d
Fri, Apr 16$75-31.4%172d
Fri, Dec 17$145+32.7%417d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot110507090110130150$4M$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 — 110 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1105085100115130717717
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VAC 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

spot11050851001151301111
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot708610211813415073%46%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 51.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 705085100115130+$196K−$196K
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
0.99-0.02700.00160.01-0.02-0.01
0.96-0.03800.00400.03-0.03-0.04
0.94-0.04850.00620.04-0.04-0.06
0.91-0.05900.00960.05-0.05-0.10
0.85-0.07950.01420.07-0.07-0.15
0.77-0.091000.01960.09-0.09-0.24
0.66-0.101050.02480.11-0.10-0.35
0.52-0.101100.02750.12-0.10-0.48
0.39-0.101150.02670.12-0.10-0.62
0.28-0.091200.02300.10-0.09-0.74
0.19-0.071250.01820.08-0.07-0.83
0.13-0.061300.01370.06-0.06-0.89
0.03-0.021500.00370.02-0.01-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot4570951201451807350
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

spot2555851151451751K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 3K 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: VAC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk