Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 3:16 AM ET

VRSN max pain

Spot (delayed)$299
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$240-19.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$46.8±15.7% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.1981 puts / 426 calls
Call wall$340largest call OI
Put wall$280largest put OI
IV3029.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$180Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $145

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, Nov 20$280-6.4%25d
Fri, Dec 18$310+3.7%53d
Fri, Jan 15$280-6.4%81d
Fri, Mar 19$240-19.7%144d
Thu, Jun 17$200-33.1%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot240135200265330395460$6M$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 — 240 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot240135170210270330400254254
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VRSN open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

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, Mar 19

spot24013517021027033040011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot13520026533039546069%29%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 145135170220280340410+$141K−$141K
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.91-0.042300.00240.32-0.04-0.10
0.88-0.052400.00300.39-0.05-0.13
0.84-0.052500.00370.46-0.06-0.16
0.80-0.062600.00440.53-0.06-0.20
0.75-0.072700.00510.60-0.07-0.25
0.70-0.072800.00570.67-0.07-0.31
0.64-0.082900.00630.71-0.08-0.37
0.57-0.083000.00660.74-0.08-0.44
0.50-0.083100.00680.76-0.08-0.51
0.44-0.083200.00680.75-0.08-0.58
0.38-0.073300.00660.72-0.08-0.65
0.32-0.073400.00620.68-0.08-0.71
0.27-0.063500.00570.62-0.07-0.77
0.22-0.063600.00520.56-0.06-0.82
0.15-0.043800.00400.44-0.05-0.90

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 36 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