Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 7:10 AM ET

VLN max pain

Spot (delayed)$1.96
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$2.5+27.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.03±52.3% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.234K puts / 18K calls
Call wall$5largest call OI
Put wall$2.5largest put OI
IV30141.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$9Kper 1% move

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$2+2.0%5d
Fri, Sep 18$2+2.0%33d
Fri, Nov 20$2.5+27.6%96d
Fri, Feb 19$2+2.0%187d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2.5123568$4M$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 — 2.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot2.50.51.52.57.57K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VLN 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

spot2.50.51.52.57.5212212
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot123568342%135%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 154.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot0.51.52.57.5+$5K$5K
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
0.97-0.000.50.03760.00-0.00-0.04
0.90-0.0010.11140.00-0.00-0.11
0.78-0.001.50.19320.00-0.00-0.23
0.66-0.0020.23920.00-0.00-0.35
0.56-0.002.50.25020.00-0.00-0.46
0.30-0.0050.19400.00-0.00-0.72
0.21-0.007.50.14710.00-0.00-0.82

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

spot0.51.52.57.510K0
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

spot0.51.52.57.510K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 33K call contracts, 10K 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: VLN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk