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

VNET max pain

Spot (delayed)$3.93
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$5+27.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.73±43.9% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.185K puts / 30K calls
Call wall$12largest call OI
Put wall$3largest put OI
IV3097.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$35Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $3

Event risk before this expiration: 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, 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

spot5257101215$16M$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot5258111416K16K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VNET 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

spot52581114497497
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot257101215150%73%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 88.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 32581114+$23K−$23K
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
0.91-0.0020.05940.00-0.00-0.09
0.78-0.0030.12450.01-0.00-0.22
0.61-0.0040.16590.01-0.00-0.39
0.47-0.0050.17090.01-0.00-0.54
0.36-0.0060.15680.01-0.00-0.66
0.28-0.0070.13730.01-0.00-0.74
0.22-0.0080.11830.01-0.00-0.81
0.17-0.0090.10150.01-0.00-0.85
0.14-0.00100.08720.01-0.00-0.89
0.12-0.00110.07530.01-0.00-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. 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