Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Jul 30, 7:34 PM ET

VTS max pain

Spot (delayed)$15.21
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$15-1.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.2±7.9% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.2699 puts / 380 calls
Call wall$17.5largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3030.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $17.5

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$15-1.4%5d
Fri, Sep 18$17.5+15.1%33d
Fri, Oct 16$20+31.5%61d
Fri, Jan 15$17.5+15.1%152d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot15131620232730$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, Aug 21

spot1512.517.522.530341341
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VTS open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 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, Aug 21

spot1512.517.522.53022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot131620232730149%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 17.512.517.522.530+$10K$10K
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, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.91-0.0112.50.06780.01-0.01-0.10
0.61-0.01150.29890.01-0.01-0.40
0.14-0.0117.50.12530.01-0.01-0.89
0.06-0.01200.04740.00-0.01-0.97
0.03-0.0022.50.02360.00-0.01-0.99
0.02-0.00250.01360.00-0.01-1.00
0.01-0.00300.00580.00-0.01-1.00

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

spot1017.522.5304700
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5303K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 6K 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: VTS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk