Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 29, 6:44 AM ET

VTRS max pain

Spot (delayed)$16.3
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$12-26.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.95±36.5% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.191K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$12largest put OI
IV3025.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$68Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $10

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Sep 18$17+4.3%20d
Fri, Oct 16$16-1.9%48d
Fri, Jan 15$10-38.7%139d
Fri, Apr 16$15-8.0%230d
Fri, Jan 21$12-26.4%510d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot123814192530$8M$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 — 12 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot12371217252K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VTRS open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 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, Jan 21

spot1237121725100100
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot3814192530127%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spotflip 1037121725+$31K$31K
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 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.9930.00220.01-0.00-0.02
0.9750.00520.01-0.00-0.04
0.9570.00980.02-0.00-0.06
0.90-0.00100.02170.04-0.00-0.11
0.83-0.00120.03320.05-0.00-0.18
0.69-0.00150.05020.07-0.00-0.32
0.58-0.00170.05740.07-0.00-0.44
0.43-0.00200.05970.07-0.00-0.61
0.24-0.00250.04650.06-0.00-0.84
0.16-0.00300.03300.04-0.00-0.98

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

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

spot391317212553K53K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 95K call contracts, 26K 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