Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 7:13 PM ET

VSAT max pain

Spot (delayed)$67.29
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$70+4.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$16.8±25.0% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.062K puts / 30K calls
Call wall$90largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3093.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.5Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $70

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$65-3.4%25d
Fri, Dec 18$70+4.0%53d
Fri, Jan 15$60-10.8%81d
Fri, Mar 19$60-10.8%144d
Thu, Jun 17$65-3.4%234d
Fri, Dec 17$75+11.5%417d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7035557595115135$112M$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 — 70 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot70355575951151357K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VSAT 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

spot70355575951151353K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot35557595115135113%82%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 83.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 7035557595115135+$482K−$482K
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
0.97-0.01350.00240.01-0.01-0.03
0.95-0.02400.00420.03-0.02-0.05
0.91-0.03450.00680.04-0.03-0.09
0.86-0.04500.00990.06-0.05-0.14
0.79-0.06550.01300.07-0.06-0.21
0.71-0.07600.01570.09-0.07-0.30
0.62-0.08650.01740.10-0.08-0.39
0.53-0.08700.01810.10-0.08-0.47
0.45-0.08750.01780.10-0.08-0.56
0.37-0.08800.01690.10-0.08-0.63
0.31-0.07850.01550.09-0.07-0.70
0.26-0.07900.01400.08-0.07-0.75
0.21-0.06950.01240.07-0.06-0.80
0.18-0.061000.01100.07-0.05-0.83

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 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

spot32037609513048K0
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

spot31728457511048K48K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 143K call contracts, 48K 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: VSAT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk