Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 11:58 PM ET

VGNT max pain

Spot (delayed)$46.78
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$40-14.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.8±18.8% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.18332 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3041.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$102Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $25

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Aug 21$40-14.5%3d
Fri, Sep 18$45-3.8%31d
Fri, Nov 20$40-14.5%94d
Fri, Feb 19$40-14.5%185d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot40202836445260$2M$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot402030405060852852
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VGNT 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

spot40203040506011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot202836445260113%28%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 46.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 252030405060+$48K$48K
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
0.99200.00170.01-0.00-0.01
0.97-0.00250.00360.01-0.01-0.03
0.95-0.01300.00740.03-0.01-0.05
0.90-0.01350.01450.04-0.01-0.10
0.80-0.01400.02620.07-0.02-0.20
0.63-0.02450.03900.09-0.02-0.37
0.42-0.02500.04320.09-0.02-0.59
0.24-0.01550.03500.07-0.01-0.78
0.13-0.01600.02320.05-0.01-0.90

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

spot204050603K0
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

spot17.5254055703K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K call contracts, 546 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: VGNT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk