Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 8:45 AM ET

VIST max pain

Spot (delayed)$66.19
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$70+5.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.45±21.8% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.44291 puts / 665 calls
Call wall$80largest call OI
Put wall$60largest put OI
IV3043.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$30Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $75

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 · 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, Aug 21$55-16.9%7d
Fri, Sep 18$65-1.8%35d
Fri, Nov 20$55-16.9%98d
Fri, Dec 18$70+5.8%126d
Fri, Jan 15$65-1.8%154d
Fri, Mar 19$55-16.9%217d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot703550658095110$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 — 70 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot703550658095110176176
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VIST 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

spot70355065809511011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot355065809511066%46%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 47.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 753550658095110+$12K$12K
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
0.97-0.00350.00280.03-0.01-0.03
0.94-0.01400.00460.04-0.01-0.05
0.91-0.01450.00730.06-0.01-0.08
0.86-0.01500.01080.09-0.02-0.14
0.78-0.02550.01490.11-0.02-0.21
0.69-0.02600.01870.14-0.03-0.30
0.59-0.03650.02120.15-0.03-0.41
0.48-0.03700.02190.15-0.03-0.52
0.38-0.03750.02100.15-0.03-0.62
0.30-0.02800.01890.14-0.02-0.70
0.23-0.02850.01640.12-0.02-0.78
0.18-0.02900.01380.10-0.02-0.83
0.14-0.02950.01150.09-0.01-0.88
0.11-0.011000.00940.07-0.01-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot20355575954K0
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

spot20355575954K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 16K call contracts, 8K 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: VIST workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk