Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 1:11 AM ET

VEON max pain

Spot (delayed)$56.34
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$40-29.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.05±26.7% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.011 puts / 85 calls
Call wall$70largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3038.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$5Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $45

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Aug 21$50-11.3%3d
Fri, Sep 18$60+6.5%31d
Fri, Dec 18$60+6.5%122d
Fri, Mar 19$40-29.0%213d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot40404754616875$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot40405060703535
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VEON open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

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, Mar 19

spot404050607011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot40475461687552%43%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 44.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 4540506070+$2K$2K
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.85-0.01400.00940.10-0.01-0.14
0.79-0.01450.01280.12-0.01-0.20
0.71-0.01500.01640.15-0.01-0.28
0.61-0.01550.01940.16-0.02-0.38
0.51-0.02600.02090.17-0.02-0.48
0.41-0.02650.02080.17-0.01-0.59
0.33-0.01700.01930.16-0.01-0.68
0.26-0.01750.01720.14-0.01-0.75

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

spot3040506070801930
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

spot304050607080194194
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 562 call contracts, 344 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: VEON workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk