Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 8:27 PM ET

VICR max pain

Spot (delayed)$195
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$195+0.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$143.3±73.5% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.32429 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$450largest call OI
Put wall$90largest put OI
IV3092.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$65Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $170

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$220+12.8%25d
Fri, Dec 18$190-2.6%53d
Fri, Jan 15$240+23.1%81d
Fri, Apr 16$230+17.9%172d
Fri, Jan 21$195+0.0%452d
Fri, Jan 19$200+2.6%816d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot19590180270360450540$26M$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 — 195 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot19590135180250340440189189
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VICR open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 21.

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, Jan 21

spot195901351802503404401010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot9018027036045054095%86%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 87.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spotflip 17090140185260350450+$14K−$14K
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, Jan 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.78-0.051600.00150.65-0.06-0.23
0.77-0.051650.00160.66-0.06-0.24
0.76-0.061700.00160.68-0.06-0.25
0.75-0.061750.00160.69-0.07-0.26
0.74-0.061800.00170.70-0.07-0.27
0.73-0.061850.00170.72-0.07-0.28
0.72-0.061900.00170.73-0.07-0.29
0.71-0.061950.00170.74-0.07-0.30
0.70-0.062000.00180.75-0.07-0.31
0.69-0.072100.00180.77-0.07-0.33
0.67-0.072200.00180.78-0.07-0.34
0.66-0.072300.00190.80-0.07-0.36
0.64-0.072400.00190.81-0.08-0.38
0.63-0.072500.00190.82-0.08-0.39
0.61-0.072600.00190.83-0.08-0.41

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 54 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot801301802603604602K0
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

spot601151702503604702K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 15K call contracts, 12K 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: VICR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk