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

VGLT max pain

Spot (delayed)$52.13
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$52-0.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.05±5.9% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.40197 puts / 488 calls
Call wall$56largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV3010.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$39Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $56

Event risk before this expiration: 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, 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

spot52465054596367$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 — 52 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot52465053565965133133
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VGLT open contracts per strike for Fri, Feb 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, Feb 19

spot5246505356596511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot46505459636741%6%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 12.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 56465053565965+$22K−$22K
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, Feb 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.86-0.01460.03510.07-0.01-0.15
0.81-0.01480.05220.08-0.01-0.20
0.77-0.01490.06520.09-0.01-0.24
0.72-0.01500.08250.10-0.01-0.30
0.65-0.01510.10440.11-0.01-0.38
0.54-0.01520.12460.12-0.01-0.49
0.41-0.01530.12570.11-0.01-0.62
0.31-0.01540.10670.10-0.01-0.73
0.25-0.01550.08540.09-0.01-0.79
0.20-0.01560.06850.08-0.01-0.83
0.17-0.01570.05600.08-0.01-0.86
0.15-0.01580.04670.07-0.01-0.88
0.13-0.01590.03980.06-0.00-0.90

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 17 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