Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 3:18 PM ET

VFC max pain

Spot (delayed)$14.74
Max pain · Fri, Sep 25$15+1.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.59±10.8% by Fri, Sep 25
Put/Call OI0.4530 puts / 66 calls
Call wall$18largest call OI
Put wall$12largest put OI
IV3040.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $16

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$16+8.6%4d
Fri, Aug 28$15+1.8%11d
Fri, Sep 4$16+8.6%18d
Fri, Sep 11$14-5.0%25d
Fri, Sep 18$20+35.7%32d
Fri, Sep 25$15+1.8%39d
Fri, Oct 2$15+1.8%46d
Fri, Nov 20$16+8.6%95d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot15121315161819$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot151213141517183131
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VFC open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 25.

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, Sep 25

spot1512131415171822
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot12131516181979%40%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 41.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spotflip 161213141517.519+$636$636
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, Sep 25

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.93-0.00120.06340.01-0.00-0.08
0.90-0.0112.50.09020.01-0.01-0.12
0.84-0.01130.12310.01-0.01-0.17
0.77-0.0113.50.15690.01-0.01-0.24
0.68-0.01140.18630.02-0.01-0.33
0.58-0.0114.50.20490.02-0.01-0.43
0.48-0.01150.20720.02-0.01-0.53
0.30-0.01160.17240.02-0.01-0.71
0.18-0.01170.12440.01-0.01-0.83
0.14-0.0117.50.10200.01-0.01-0.87
0.10-0.01180.08240.01-0.01-0.90
0.07-0.00190.05440.01-0.00-0.94

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

spot9141720233510K0
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

spot2.59.51418.52331124K124K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 273K call contracts, 328K 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: VFC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk