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

VTR max pain

Spot (delayed)$84.8
Max pain · Fri, May 21$82.5-2.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$12.85±15.2% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI4.72491 puts / 104 calls
Call wall$87.5largest call OI
Put wall$82.5largest put OI
IV3022.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$71Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $60

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

spot82.55061728394105$2M$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 — 82.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot82.5506577.58592.5100469469
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VTR open contracts per strike for Fri, May 21.

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, May 21

spot82.5506577.58592.510055
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot556575859510541%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 25.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21

spotflip 60506577.58592.5100+$84K−$84K
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, May 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.93-0.01600.00600.08-0.01-0.07
0.90-0.01650.00870.11-0.01-0.10
0.85-0.01700.01250.15-0.01-0.15
0.78-0.01750.01720.19-0.01-0.23
0.74-0.0177.50.01970.21-0.01-0.27
0.69-0.01800.02210.22-0.01-0.33
0.63-0.0182.50.02410.24-0.01-0.39
0.56-0.01850.02540.25-0.01-0.45
0.50-0.0187.50.02600.25-0.02-0.52
0.44-0.01900.02570.25-0.01-0.58
0.39-0.0192.50.02480.24-0.01-0.64
0.33-0.01950.02330.23-0.01-0.70
0.29-0.0197.50.02160.21-0.01-0.75
0.25-0.011000.01970.20-0.01-0.79
0.18-0.011050.01600.17-0.01-0.86

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 17 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