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

VICR max pain

Spot (delayed)$195
Max pain · Fri, Jan 19$200+2.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$184.5±94.6% by Fri, Jan 19
Put/Call OI0.8492 puts / 109 calls
Call wall$250largest call OI
Put wall$150largest put OI
IV3092.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$510per 1% move · flip ≈ $290

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

spot20090162234306378450$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 — 200 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 19

spot200901402102703304002525
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VICR open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 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, Jan 19

spot2009014021027033040066
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 19

spot9016223430637845092%85%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 88.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 19

spotflip 29090140210270330400+$2K−$2K
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 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.86-0.021200.00080.62-0.03-0.14
0.86-0.021250.00080.64-0.03-0.15
0.84-0.021350.00090.69-0.04-0.16
0.84-0.021400.00090.70-0.04-0.17
0.83-0.031500.00100.74-0.04-0.18
0.80-0.031700.00110.81-0.04-0.21
0.79-0.031800.00110.83-0.04-0.22
0.78-0.031900.00110.86-0.04-0.24
0.77-0.042000.00120.89-0.04-0.25
0.76-0.042100.00120.91-0.05-0.26
0.74-0.042200.00120.93-0.05-0.28
0.73-0.042300.00120.95-0.05-0.29
0.72-0.042400.00130.97-0.05-0.30
0.71-0.042500.00130.99-0.05-0.31
0.70-0.042600.00131.00-0.05-0.33

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 33 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