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

VPG max pain

Spot (delayed)$61.26
Max pain · Fri, Aug 20$65+6.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$37.05±60.5% by Fri, Aug 20
Put/Call OI0.1936 puts / 188 calls
Call wall$70largest call OI
Put wall$60largest put OI
IV3086.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $40

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

spot653572109146183220$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 — 65 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 20

spot653560801151501803434
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VPG open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 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, Aug 20

spot6535608011515018011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 20

spot357210914618322087%75%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 84.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 20

spotflip 40356080115150180+$712−$712
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, Aug 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.89-0.01350.00400.11-0.01-0.11
0.85-0.01400.00490.14-0.02-0.15
0.81-0.02450.00570.16-0.02-0.19
0.78-0.02500.00640.18-0.02-0.23
0.70-0.02600.00740.20-0.03-0.31
0.66-0.03650.00770.21-0.03-0.35
0.62-0.03700.00790.22-0.03-0.39
0.59-0.03750.00810.23-0.03-0.43
0.56-0.03800.00810.23-0.03-0.46
0.47-0.03950.00810.23-0.03-0.56
0.45-0.031000.00800.23-0.03-0.58
0.40-0.031100.00780.23-0.03-0.63

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 23 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