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

VFC max pain

Spot (delayed)$16.84
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$18+6.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.47±26.5% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI31.98166K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$14largest put OI
IV3058.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$2.5Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $6

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

spot183915202632$189M$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 — 18 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot1831015202531131K131K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VFC 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

spot18310152025315050
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot61116222732107%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 53.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 631015202531+$2.0M−$2.0M
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
0.95-0.00100.01610.01-0.00-0.05
0.93-0.00110.02360.01-0.00-0.08
0.89-0.00120.03270.02-0.00-0.12
0.84-0.00130.04280.03-0.01-0.16
0.79-0.01140.05270.03-0.01-0.22
0.72-0.01150.06170.04-0.01-0.29
0.65-0.01160.06870.04-0.01-0.36
0.58-0.01170.07320.04-0.01-0.43
0.51-0.01180.07490.04-0.01-0.50
0.44-0.01190.07400.04-0.01-0.57
0.38-0.01200.07100.04-0.01-0.64
0.32-0.01210.06670.04-0.01-0.69
0.27-0.01220.06140.04-0.01-0.75
0.23-0.01230.05580.03-0.01-0.79
0.19-0.01240.05010.03-0.01-0.83

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 27 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