Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 17, 3:54 AM ET

VTRS max pain

Spot (delayed)$18.6
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$15-19.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.55±19.1% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI0.51467 puts / 922 calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3041.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$15Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $12

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$17-8.6%34d
Fri, Dec 18$19+2.1%62d
Fri, Jan 15$10-46.2%90d
Fri, Apr 16$15-19.4%181d
Fri, Jan 21$12-35.5%461d
Fri, Jan 19$3-83.9%825d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1591215192225$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot1591316192225328328
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VTRS open contracts per strike for Fri, Apr 16.

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, Apr 16

spot15913161922256666
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot9121519222569%27%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spotflip 1291316192225+$8K−$8K
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, Apr 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.94-0.00120.01990.01-0.00-0.06
0.92-0.00130.02700.02-0.00-0.08
0.89-0.00140.03750.02-0.00-0.11
0.85-0.00150.05100.03-0.00-0.16
0.79-0.00160.06600.04-0.00-0.22
0.71-0.00170.07960.04-0.00-0.30
0.62-0.00180.08940.05-0.00-0.39
0.53-0.01190.09420.05-0.01-0.48
0.43-0.00200.09410.05-0.01-0.57
0.35-0.00210.08960.05-0.00-0.66
0.27-0.00220.08160.04-0.00-0.75
0.20-0.00230.07080.04-0.00-0.82
0.15-0.00240.05900.03-0.00-0.88
0.12-0.00250.04870.03-0.00-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot51115192352K0
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

spot391317212552K52K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 86K call contracts, 24K 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: VTRS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk