Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 6:11 AM ET

VIAV max pain

Spot (delayed)$33.99
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$35+3.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.85±23.1% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.172K puts / 13K calls
Call wall$90largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV3091.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$274Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $22

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, Nov 20$35+3.0%23d
Fri, Dec 18$35+3.0%51d
Fri, Jan 15$35+3.0%79d
Fri, Feb 19$42+23.6%114d
Fri, Mar 19$35+3.0%142d
Fri, Apr 16$40+17.7%170d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot35102642587490$46M$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot351024313845603K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VIAV open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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, Dec 18

spot351024313845607878
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot102642587490200%75%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 77.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 22102431384560+$119K−$119K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.80-0.03270.02630.04-0.03-0.20
0.77-0.03280.02900.04-0.03-0.23
0.73-0.03290.03140.04-0.03-0.27
0.70-0.03300.03360.04-0.03-0.30
0.66-0.04310.03540.05-0.04-0.34
0.62-0.04320.03690.05-0.04-0.38
0.58-0.04330.03800.05-0.04-0.42
0.55-0.04340.03860.05-0.04-0.46
0.51-0.04350.03890.05-0.04-0.49
0.47-0.04360.03880.05-0.04-0.53
0.44-0.04370.03840.05-0.04-0.57
0.40-0.04380.03760.05-0.04-0.60
0.37-0.04390.03670.05-0.04-0.63
0.34-0.04400.03550.05-0.04-0.66
0.31-0.04410.03420.04-0.03-0.69

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 42 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot10243138456017K0
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

spot5212937456519K19K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 75K call contracts, 21K 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: VIAV workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk