Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 10:09 AM ET

VFC max pain

Spot (delayed)$16.84
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$15-10.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.89±17.2% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.3036K puts / 121K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3058.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.1Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $17.5

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Oct 30$17+1.0%2d
Fri, Nov 6$15.5-8.0%9d
Fri, Nov 13$15.5-8.0%16d
Fri, Nov 20$14-16.9%23d
Fri, Nov 27$16-5.0%30d
Fri, Dec 4$15.5-8.0%37d
Fri, Dec 18$16-5.0%51d
Fri, Jan 15$15-10.9%79d
Fri, Feb 19$16-5.0%114d
Fri, Mar 19$18+6.9%142d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1531018253340$190M$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, Jan 15

spot152.51017.52532.54035K35K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VFC 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

spot152.51017.52532.540281281
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot51219263340179%40%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 44.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 17.5512.52027.535+$394K−$394K
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
1.00—2.50.00030.00-0.00-0.00
0.99—50.00170.00-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.007.50.00510.00-0.00-0.02
0.97-0.00100.01320.01-0.00-0.03
0.92-0.0012.50.03730.01-0.00-0.09
0.75-0.01150.08070.03-0.01-0.25
0.50-0.0117.50.10640.03-0.01-0.51
0.29-0.01200.08660.03-0.01-0.72
0.15-0.0122.50.05810.02-0.01-0.86
0.08-0.00250.03540.01-0.00-0.93
0.05-0.0027.50.02230.01-0.00-0.98
0.03-0.00300.01510.01-0.00-1.00
0.02-0.0032.50.01090.01-0.00-1.00
0.02-0.00350.00840.00-0.00-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot811141720232K0
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

spot2.59.514.519.524.532133K133K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 290K call contracts, 306K 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 · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk