Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 1, 3:02 AM ET

VTR max pain

Spot (delayed)$84.8
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$72.5-14.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.48±8.8% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.412K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$85largest put OI
IV3022.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$224Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $52.5

Event risk before this expiration: 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$85+0.2%19d
Fri, Dec 18$80-5.7%47d
Fri, Jan 15$72.5-14.5%75d
Fri, Feb 19$87.5+3.2%110d
Fri, May 21$82.5-2.7%201d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot72.533517088107125$18M$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 — 72.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot72.532.547.562.577.592.5115752752
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VTR 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

spot72.532.547.562.577.592.511511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot4359769210912589%22%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 52.532.547.562.577.592.5115+$204K−$204K
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
0.94-0.0167.50.00860.04-0.01-0.07
0.93-0.01700.01150.05-0.01-0.08
0.90-0.0172.50.01550.07-0.01-0.11
0.87-0.01750.02100.08-0.02-0.15
0.81-0.0277.50.02800.10-0.02-0.20
0.74-0.02800.03600.12-0.02-0.28
0.64-0.0282.50.04320.14-0.02-0.38
0.53-0.02850.04650.15-0.02-0.49
0.42-0.0287.50.04470.15-0.02-0.59
0.32-0.02900.03960.14-0.02-0.69
0.25-0.0292.50.03330.12-0.02-0.76
0.19-0.02950.02730.11-0.02-0.81
0.15-0.0297.50.02230.09-0.02-0.85
0.12-0.011000.01820.08-0.01-0.88
0.08-0.011050.01230.06-0.01-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 32 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot47.56072.58597.51251K0
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

spot30456075901101K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 3K 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: VTR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk