Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 3:17 AM ET

VCTR max pain

Spot (delayed)$107.6
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$95-11.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.05±10.3% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.094 puts / 43 calls
Call wall$120largest call OI
Put wall$90largest put OI
IV3041.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$10Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $95

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$95-11.7%25d
Fri, Dec 18$95-11.7%53d
Fri, Jan 15$95-11.7%81d
Fri, Apr 16$80-25.7%172d
Fri, May 21$90-16.4%207d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot9590104118132146160$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 — 95 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot95901001101201602121
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VCTR 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

spot959010011012016011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot9010411813214616088%40%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 45.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 9590100110120160+$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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.86-0.08900.01160.07-0.08-0.14
0.81-0.08950.01630.08-0.08-0.19
0.72-0.091000.02270.10-0.09-0.27
0.60-0.091050.02970.12-0.09-0.40
0.44-0.091100.03200.12-0.09-0.55
0.31-0.081150.02730.10-0.08-0.69
0.22-0.071200.02100.09-0.07-0.78
0.17-0.071250.01600.07-0.07-0.83
0.05-0.041600.00420.03-0.05-0.95

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

spot501001151301556030
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

spot457095120145170603603
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 78 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: VCTR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk