Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 5:21 AM ET

VIRT max pain

Spot (delayed)$60.02
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$55-8.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.65±14.4% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.1858 puts / 314 calls
Call wall$70largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV3036.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$20Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $40

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$55-8.4%5d
Fri, Sep 18$50-16.7%33d
Fri, Nov 20$55-8.4%96d
Fri, Dec 18$32-46.7%124d
Fri, Mar 19$40-33.4%215d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot55354657687990$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 — 55 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot553545556575859090
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VIRT 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

spot553545556575851111
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot35465768799070%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 35.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 40354555657585+$8K$8K
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
0.98-0.01350.00340.01-0.01-0.02
0.96-0.01400.00690.03-0.01-0.04
0.91-0.01450.01220.05-0.01-0.09
0.83-0.02500.01990.08-0.01-0.16
0.71-0.02550.02940.11-0.02-0.29
0.54-0.02600.03500.12-0.02-0.46
0.37-0.02650.03320.12-0.02-0.63
0.25-0.02700.02680.10-0.02-0.76
0.17-0.01750.02010.08-0.02-0.84
0.11-0.01800.01460.06-0.01-0.90
0.08-0.01850.01060.04-0.01-0.94
0.05-0.01900.00780.03-0.01-0.96

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

spot3040444865852K0
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

spot1829364355902K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 3K 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: VIRT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk