Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 3:10 AM ET

VTIP max pain

Spot (delayed)$48.86
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$48-1.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.45±0.9% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.69518 puts / 746 calls
Call wall$51largest call OI
Put wall$48largest put OI
IV303.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$168Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $47

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$48-1.8%26d
Fri, Feb 19$50+2.3%117d
Fri, May 21$53+8.5%208d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot48464748505152$1M$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 — 48 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot4846485052501501
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VTIP 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

spot48464850522020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot46474850515215%4%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 3.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 4746485052+$302K−$302K
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
0.95-0.00460.05140.01-0.00-0.04
0.93-0.00470.09740.02-0.00-0.07
0.86-0.00480.24100.03-0.00-0.14
0.48-0.00490.86320.05-0.01-0.62
0.12-0.00500.23530.03-0.00-0.97
0.06-0.00510.09590.02-0.00-0.99
0.04-0.00520.05190.01-0.00-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot474951534680
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

spot4044485256802802
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 1K 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: VTIP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk