Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 10, 12:33 AM ET

VRRM max pain

Spot (delayed)$2.97
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$5+68.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.78±26.1% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.10704 puts / 7K calls
Call wall$5largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV3075.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$7Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Oct 16$5+68.4%5d
Fri, Nov 20$2.5-15.8%40d
Fri, Dec 18$5+68.4%68d
Fri, Jan 15$2.5-15.8%96d
Fri, Apr 16$5+68.4%187d
Fri, Jan 21$2.5-15.8%467d
Fri, Jan 19$2.5-15.8%831d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot53916222935$18M$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot52.57.512.517.522.5303K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VRRM open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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, Dec 18

spot52.57.512.517.522.5301010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot3814192530274%63%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 70.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot2.57.512.517.522.530+$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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.78-0.002.50.34530.00-0.00-0.23
0.20-0.0050.20020.00-0.00-0.82
0.12-0.007.50.11050.00-0.00-0.90
0.09-0.00100.07860.00-0.00-0.94
0.08-0.0012.50.06210.00-0.00-0.95
0.07-0.00150.05180.00-0.00-0.97
0.06-0.0017.50.04470.00-0.00-0.98
0.05-0.00200.03950.00-0.00-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 8 strikes around the money — all 12 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.57.512.517.522.5306K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.53015K15K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 42K call contracts, 6K 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: VRRM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk