Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 4, 4:25 PM ET

VLO max pain

Spot (delayed)$365.34
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 4:25 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Mar 19Not shownone strike decides it
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$89.5
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 4:25 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2027-03-19 expiration = 89.50 USD, 24.5% of 365.34 spot.
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±24.5% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.88
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 4:25 PM ET
How4,438 put contracts / 5,049 call contracts = 0.88 for the 2027-03-19 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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4K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$560
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 4:25 PM ET
How560.00 for the 2027-03-19 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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largest call OI
Put wall$400
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 4:25 PM ET
How400.00 for the 2027-03-19 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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largest put OI
IV3055.0%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 4:25 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$67K
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 4:25 PM ET
HowOver every strike with open interest for the 2027-03-19 expiration: (call gamma × call OI minus put gamma × put OI) × 100 × spot² × 1%, summed. Calls count as positive and puts as negative, a convention about who holds the other side, not a measurement.
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per 1% move · flip ≈ $580

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 8.2% of spot, more than the 5% we allow, so one strike decides it. Walls and gamma still print.

Event risk before this expiration: 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 6$390+6.7%2d
Fri, Nov 13$400+9.5%9d
Fri, Nov 20$410+12.2%16d
Fri, Nov 27$415+13.6%23d
Fri, Dec 4$385+5.4%30d
Fri, Dec 11$385+5.4%37d
Fri, Dec 18one strike decides44d
Fri, Jan 15$270-26.1%72d
Fri, Mar 19one strike decides135d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 8.2% of spot, more than the 5% we allow, so one strike decides it. Walls and gamma still print.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot120170240340440560751751
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VLO open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 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, Mar 19

spot190260320380440510715715
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot12022833644455266091%50%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 50.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 580125175240330420510+$243K−$243K
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.79-0.103000.00250.63-0.12-0.21
0.76-0.113100.00270.69-0.13-0.24
0.73-0.123200.00290.73-0.14-0.27
0.70-0.133300.00310.77-0.14-0.31
0.66-0.143400.00320.81-0.15-0.34
0.63-0.153500.00340.83-0.15-0.38
0.59-0.153600.00340.86-0.15-0.41
0.56-0.153700.00350.87-0.16-0.45
0.52-0.163800.00360.88-0.16-0.48
0.49-0.163900.00360.88-0.16-0.52
0.46-0.164000.00360.88-0.15-0.55
0.43-0.154100.00350.86-0.15-0.58
0.40-0.154200.00340.85-0.15-0.61
0.37-0.154300.00340.83-0.14-0.65
0.34-0.144400.00330.81-0.14-0.67

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 56 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot220337.5377.5410442.54852K0
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

spot8014521033041051018K18K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 79K call contracts, 105K 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.

Max pain, walls and gamma print only when an expiration holds at least 100 open contracts across 5 strikes, and max pain also needs to stay within 5% of spot when its single heaviest strike is removed. Below that the expiration reads as thin rather than printing a level one trade could move.

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: VLO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk