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

VCTR max pain

Spot (delayed)$107.6
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$95-11.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.5±13.5% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.0759 puts / 793 calls
Call wall$105largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3041.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$175Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $70

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$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

spot95507192113134155$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 — 95 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot95507590105120135602602
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VCTR 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

spot9550759010512013511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot507192113134155106%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 70507590105120135+$150K−$150K
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
0.92-0.03750.00490.07-0.03-0.08
0.90-0.03800.00650.09-0.03-0.10
0.87-0.03850.00860.11-0.03-0.14
0.82-0.04900.01120.13-0.04-0.18
0.77-0.04950.01460.16-0.04-0.23
0.69-0.041000.01830.18-0.04-0.31
0.59-0.041050.02150.20-0.04-0.41
0.48-0.041100.02280.20-0.04-0.52
0.37-0.041150.02160.19-0.04-0.63
0.29-0.041200.01880.17-0.04-0.71
0.22-0.031250.01570.15-0.03-0.78
0.18-0.031300.01300.14-0.03-0.82
0.15-0.031350.01080.12-0.03-0.86
0.10-0.021450.00770.09-0.02-0.90
0.08-0.021550.00570.08-0.02-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. 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