Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 3:11 AM ET

VGLT max pain

Spot (delayed)$52.13
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$49-6.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.3±2.5% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.13267 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$49largest call OI
Put wall$52largest put OI
IV3010.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$441Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $49

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 20$49-6.0%26d
Fri, Dec 18$52-0.2%54d
Fri, Feb 19$52-0.2%117d
Fri, May 21$53+1.7%208d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot49455054596368$3M$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 — 49 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot49455054586266383383
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VGLT open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot494550545862662727
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot46495254576041%11%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 11.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 49455054586266+$168K−$168K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.00450.01180.01-0.00-0.03
0.98-0.00460.01780.01-0.01-0.04
0.95-0.01480.04300.01-0.01-0.07
0.92-0.01490.06980.02-0.01-0.10
0.87-0.01500.11670.03-0.01-0.15
0.76-0.01510.19470.04-0.01-0.26
0.55-0.01520.27790.06-0.01-0.48
0.29-0.01530.23310.05-0.01-0.76
0.14-0.01540.13440.03-0.01-0.90
0.08-0.01550.07730.02-0.00-0.95
0.05-0.00560.04720.02-0.00-0.97
0.04-0.00570.03080.01-0.00-0.98
0.03-0.00580.02130.01-0.00-0.99
0.02-0.00590.01530.01-0.00-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot4852566064683830
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

spot384450566268383383
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 544 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: VGLT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk