Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 3:11 AM ET

VCLT max pain

Spot (delayed)$70.38
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$72+2.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.83±4.0% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.41668 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$74largest call OI
Put wall$72largest put OI
IV3011.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$173Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $74

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$70-0.5%26d
Fri, Dec 18$72+2.3%54d
Fri, Mar 19$70-0.5%145d
Thu, Jun 17$68-3.4%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot72656973778185$2M$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 — 72 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot7265697377811K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VCLT open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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, Dec 18

spot7265697377813131
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot65687275798218%9%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 12.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 746569737781+$324K−$324K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.01650.04010.03-0.01-0.12
0.91-0.01660.06000.04-0.01-0.17
0.86-0.01670.08450.06-0.01-0.22
0.78-0.01680.10990.08-0.01-0.30
0.68-0.01690.13140.10-0.01-0.41
0.54-0.01700.14320.10-0.01-0.53
0.40-0.01710.14040.10-0.01-0.66
0.27-0.01720.11940.09-0.01-0.77
0.17-0.01730.08980.07-0.01-0.85
0.11-0.01740.06290.05-0.00-0.91
0.07-0.00750.04300.04-0.00-0.94
0.05-0.00760.02960.03-0.00-0.96
0.03-0.00770.02040.02-0.00-0.97

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

spot6568717477801K0
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

spot5964697479841K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 1K 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: VCLT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk