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

VSEC max pain

Spot (delayed)$142.17
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$165+16.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$30.55±21.5% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.52154 puts / 298 calls
Call wall$260largest call OI
Put wall$125largest put OI
IV3069.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $260

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$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

spot16590142194246298350$4M$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 — 165 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot16590125160190240310147147
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VSEC 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

spot1659012516019024031011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot9014219424629835097%52%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 56.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 26090125160190240310+$14K−$14K
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
0.93-0.04950.00310.10-0.04-0.08
0.90-0.041000.00380.12-0.04-0.10
0.88-0.051050.00460.14-0.05-0.12
0.85-0.061100.00550.16-0.06-0.15
0.82-0.071150.00640.18-0.07-0.18
0.74-0.081250.00820.22-0.08-0.26
0.64-0.091350.00960.26-0.09-0.36
0.59-0.091400.01010.27-0.09-0.41
0.54-0.091450.01040.27-0.09-0.47
0.49-0.091500.01050.27-0.09-0.52
0.44-0.091550.01040.27-0.09-0.57
0.39-0.091600.01010.26-0.09-0.61
0.35-0.081650.00970.25-0.09-0.66
0.31-0.081700.00920.24-0.08-0.70
0.28-0.081750.00870.23-0.08-0.74

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 35 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