Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 5:58 PM ET

VRTX max pain

Spot (delayed)$513.79
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$480-6.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$64.7±12.6% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI1.127K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$450largest call OI
Put wall$340largest put OI
IV3035.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.2Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $230

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 30$510-0.7%4d
Fri, Nov 6$515+0.2%11d
Fri, Nov 13$510-0.7%18d
Fri, Nov 20$510-0.7%25d
Fri, Nov 27$510-0.7%32d
Fri, Dec 4$520+1.2%39d
Fri, Dec 18$490-4.6%53d
Fri, Jan 15$480-6.6%81d
Fri, Mar 19$530+3.2%144d
Fri, Apr 16$500-2.7%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot480190312434556678800$154M$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 — 480 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot480190280380480580720950950
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VRTX 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

spot48019028038048058072044
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot190312434556678800119%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 230195290380470560660+$621K−$621K
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
0.85-0.124400.00260.58-0.13-0.15
0.82-0.144500.00300.64-0.14-0.18
0.79-0.154600.00340.70-0.15-0.21
0.75-0.164700.00370.77-0.17-0.25
0.71-0.174800.00410.83-0.18-0.29
0.67-0.184900.00440.88-0.19-0.34
0.62-0.195000.00470.92-0.19-0.38
0.58-0.195100.00490.95-0.20-0.43
0.53-0.195200.00500.96-0.20-0.48
0.48-0.195300.00500.96-0.20-0.53
0.43-0.195400.00490.95-0.20-0.58
0.39-0.195500.00480.93-0.19-0.63
0.34-0.185600.00460.89-0.19-0.68
0.30-0.175700.00430.85-0.18-0.72
0.27-0.165800.00400.80-0.17-0.76

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 55 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot465500517.55355656205980
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

spot195340440507.55606602K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 22K call contracts, 21K 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: VRTX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk