Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 7:10 AM ET

VRDN max pain

Spot (delayed)$21.6
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$11-49.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.15±33.1% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.42374 puts / 895 calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$23largest put OI
IV3074.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$5Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Aug 21$19-12.0%7d
Fri, Sep 18$21-2.8%35d
Fri, Oct 16$20-7.4%63d
Fri, Jan 15$11-49.1%154d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot113916222935$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 — 11 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1131115192335280280
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VRDN 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

spot113111519233533
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot3916222935241%57%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 63.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot31115192335+$3K$3K
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
0.83-0.01150.01930.04-0.01-0.17
0.80-0.01160.02220.04-0.01-0.19
0.78-0.01170.02520.04-0.01-0.22
0.74-0.01180.02840.04-0.01-0.25
0.71-0.01190.03140.05-0.01-0.28
0.67-0.01200.03420.05-0.01-0.32
0.64-0.01210.03660.05-0.01-0.36
0.60-0.01220.03840.06-0.01-0.40
0.56-0.01230.03950.06-0.01-0.44
0.52-0.01240.04010.06-0.01-0.48
0.48-0.01250.04010.06-0.01-0.52
0.34-0.01300.03550.05-0.01-0.66
0.25-0.01350.02910.04-0.01-0.76

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot515202530354920
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

spot18152229365K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 7K 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: VRDN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk