Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 9:42 PM ET

VNET max pain

Spot (delayed)$3.93
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$4+1.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.83±21.0% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.321K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$4largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV3097.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$13Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $3

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Nov 20$4+1.8%25d
Fri, Dec 18$5+27.2%53d
Fri, Jan 15$8+103.6%81d
Fri, Mar 19$5+27.2%144d
Thu, Jun 17$3-23.7%234d
Fri, Dec 17$7+78.1%417d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot42457810$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 — 4 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot42468102K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VNET 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

spot4246810276276
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot3467910302%99%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 99.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 3246810+$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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.0020.04820.00-0.00-0.04
0.86-0.0130.18530.00-0.01-0.14
0.54-0.0140.38380.00-0.01-0.46
0.26-0.0150.28390.00-0.01-0.75
0.14-0.0160.16900.00-0.01-0.87
0.08-0.0070.10500.00-0.00-0.93
0.05-0.0080.06940.00-0.00-0.96
0.04-0.0090.04830.00-0.00-0.98
0.03-0.00100.03500.00-0.00-0.99

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

spot15913172210K0
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

spot15913172118K18K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 71K call contracts, 28K 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: VNET workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk