Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 3:16 AM ET

VECO max pain

Spot (delayed)$42.06
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$50+18.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.33±26.9% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.0796 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$90largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV3079.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$19Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $30

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$44+4.6%25d
Fri, Dec 18$36-14.4%53d
Fri, Jan 15$50+18.9%81d
Fri, Apr 16$40-4.9%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot5025456585105125$5M$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 — 50 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot5025456585105125440440
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VECO 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

spot502545658510512555
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot25456585105125140%60%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 71.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 3025456585105125+$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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.94-0.01250.00710.02-0.01-0.06
0.88-0.02300.01370.04-0.02-0.12
0.77-0.03350.02150.06-0.03-0.23
0.64-0.03400.02730.08-0.03-0.37
0.50-0.03450.02890.08-0.03-0.51
0.38-0.03500.02700.08-0.03-0.63
0.28-0.03550.02340.07-0.03-0.73
0.21-0.03600.01950.06-0.03-0.80
0.17-0.02650.01610.05-0.02-0.85
0.13-0.02700.01320.04-0.02-0.89
0.10-0.02750.01090.04-0.02-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot20354350851204690
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

spot1529374565105469469
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 310 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: VECO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk