Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 3:16 AM ET

VRSN max pain

Spot (delayed)$299
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$280-6.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$20.25±6.8% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.755K puts / 7K calls
Call wall$320largest call OI
Put wall$260largest put OI
IV3029.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3.6Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $220

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, Nov 20$280-6.4%26d
Fri, Dec 18$310+3.7%54d
Fri, Jan 15$280-6.4%82d
Fri, Mar 19$240-19.7%145d
Thu, Jun 17$200-33.1%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot280125192259326393460$101M$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 — 280 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot2801251601952603304002K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VRSN 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

spot2801251601952603304002K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot170228286344402460118%30%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 220190230280330380430+$2.4M−$2.4M
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
0.99-0.012300.00070.02-0.02-0.01
0.98-0.022400.00130.04-0.03-0.02
0.97-0.042500.00230.06-0.04-0.04
0.94-0.062600.00400.10-0.07-0.07
0.89-0.092700.00680.15-0.10-0.12
0.81-0.132800.01040.22-0.13-0.20
0.69-0.162900.01410.29-0.16-0.32
0.54-0.183000.01620.33-0.18-0.48
0.38-0.173100.01560.32-0.17-0.63
0.24-0.143200.01270.26-0.14-0.77
0.15-0.103300.00910.19-0.10-0.86
0.09-0.073400.00600.13-0.08-0.92
0.05-0.053500.00380.09-0.06-0.96
0.03-0.033600.00240.06-0.03-0.98
0.02-0.023700.00150.04-0.01-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 42 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1351952503103704302K0
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

spot1251601952603304003K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K 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: VRSN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk