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

VPG max pain

Spot (delayed)$61.26
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$70+14.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$19.35±31.6% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.14182 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$210largest call OI
Put wall$115largest put OI
IV3086.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$26Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $50

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, 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

spot703572109146183220$11M$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 — 70 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot70356595125155195261261
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VPG open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot703565951251551952525
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot3572109146183220114%74%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 77.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 503570100130160200+$4K−$4K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.94-0.01350.00390.04-0.01-0.05
0.91-0.01400.00610.05-0.02-0.09
0.86-0.02450.00860.07-0.03-0.14
0.79-0.03500.01120.09-0.04-0.20
0.72-0.04550.01330.11-0.04-0.28
0.64-0.05600.01480.12-0.05-0.36
0.57-0.05650.01550.13-0.05-0.43
0.49-0.05700.01560.13-0.05-0.51
0.43-0.05750.01520.13-0.05-0.57
0.37-0.05800.01440.12-0.05-0.64
0.32-0.05850.01350.12-0.04-0.69
0.28-0.05900.01250.11-0.04-0.73
0.24-0.04950.01140.10-0.04-0.77

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 34 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