Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 10:02 AM ET

VNOM max pain

Spot (delayed)$47.15
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$42-10.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.35±15.6% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.36352 puts / 980 calls
Call wall$45largest call OI
Put wall$38largest put OI
IV3032.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$64Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $37

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$42-10.9%24d
Fri, Dec 18$42-10.9%52d
Fri, Mar 19$42-10.9%143d
Fri, May 21$37-21.5%206d
Thu, Jun 17$43-8.8%233d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot42253239465360$1M$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 — 42 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot42253741444750171171
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VNOM 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

spot4225374144475066
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot25323946536073%30%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 31.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 37253741444750+$15K−$15K
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
0.80-0.01400.03120.08-0.01-0.21
0.76-0.01410.03300.09-0.01-0.25
0.73-0.01420.03510.09-0.01-0.28
0.69-0.01430.03720.10-0.01-0.32
0.65-0.01440.03920.10-0.01-0.35
0.61-0.01450.04110.11-0.01-0.40
0.57-0.01460.04260.11-0.01-0.44
0.53-0.01470.04360.11-0.01-0.48
0.48-0.01480.04400.11-0.01-0.52
0.44-0.01490.04390.11-0.01-0.56
0.40-0.01500.04320.11-0.01-0.60
0.22-0.01550.03340.09-0.01-0.77
0.12-0.01600.02170.06-0.01-0.87

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2536404448604K0
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

spot2530354045504K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 13K call contracts, 2K 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: VNOM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk