Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 15, 10:03 AM ET

VPG max pain

Spot (delayed)$61.26
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$55-10.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.5±23.7% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.22499 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$80largest call OI
Put wall$65largest put OI
IV3086.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$82Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $40

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, Oct 16$70+14.3%1d
Fri, Nov 20$55-10.2%36d
Fri, Dec 18$80+30.6%64d
Fri, Jan 15$70+14.3%92d
Fri, Feb 19$80+30.6%127d
Fri, Mar 19$70+14.3%155d
Fri, May 21$60-2.1%218d
Fri, Aug 20$65+6.1%309d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot55155697138179220$30M$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 — 55 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot55154580115150185330330
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VPG 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

spot551545801151501859797
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot155697138179220269%83%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 91.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 40155085120155195+$21K−$21K
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
0.99-0.01250.00110.01-0.01-0.01
0.98-0.01300.00190.01-0.02-0.02
0.96-0.02350.00340.02-0.02-0.04
0.94-0.03400.00570.03-0.03-0.06
0.89-0.05450.00910.04-0.05-0.10
0.83-0.06500.01340.05-0.06-0.17
0.74-0.08550.01790.07-0.08-0.26
0.64-0.09600.02130.08-0.09-0.36
0.52-0.09650.02260.08-0.09-0.48
0.42-0.09700.02190.08-0.09-0.58
0.33-0.09750.02000.07-0.09-0.67
0.26-0.08800.01750.07-0.08-0.74
0.21-0.07850.01500.06-0.07-0.80
0.17-0.06900.01270.05-0.06-0.84
0.13-0.06950.01070.04-0.06-0.87

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 40 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1545801151501855260
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

spot154075110145180725725
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K 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: VPG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk