Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 3:19 AM ET

VSEC max pain

Spot (delayed)$142.17
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$160+12.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$21.8±15.3% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI57.914K puts / 70 calls
Call wall$160largest call OI
Put wall$135largest put OI
IV3069.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$1.1Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $125

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$160+12.5%25d
Fri, Dec 18$130-8.6%53d
Fri, Jan 15$165+16.1%81d
Fri, Apr 16$155+9.0%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot160115142169196223250$13M$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 — 160 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1601151401601802002502K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VSEC 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

spot16011514016018020025011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot115142169196223250118%65%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 69.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 125115140160180200250+$534K−$534K
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
0.86-0.121150.00700.09-0.12-0.14
0.77-0.161250.01020.12-0.16-0.23
0.71-0.171300.01180.13-0.18-0.29
0.65-0.191350.01310.15-0.19-0.35
0.58-0.201400.01400.15-0.20-0.42
0.51-0.201450.01440.16-0.20-0.50
0.44-0.191500.01430.16-0.20-0.57
0.37-0.191550.01370.15-0.19-0.63
0.32-0.181600.01280.14-0.18-0.69
0.27-0.161650.01160.13-0.17-0.74
0.22-0.151700.01040.12-0.15-0.79
0.18-0.141750.00920.10-0.14-0.82

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 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

spot951501752002503101470
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

spot851201551902503202K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 851 call contracts, 4K 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: VSEC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk