Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 3:12 AM ET

VTWO max pain

Spot (delayed)$111.37
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$100-10.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.35±6.6% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.1362 puts / 478 calls
Call wall$100largest call OI
Put wall$105largest put OI
IV3020.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$119Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $90

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$109-2.1%26d
Fri, Dec 18$100-10.2%54d
Fri, Mar 19$105-5.7%145d
Thu, Jun 17$101-9.3%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot100658197113129145$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 — 100 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot10065951051111181458686
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VTWO open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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, Dec 18

spot100659510511111814511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot65819711312914576%17%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 21.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 906595105111118145+$27K−$27K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.80-0.031030.02470.12-0.03-0.20
0.75-0.031050.02950.14-0.03-0.24
0.73-0.031060.03210.14-0.03-0.27
0.70-0.031070.03470.15-0.03-0.30
0.66-0.031080.03720.16-0.03-0.34
0.63-0.031090.03960.17-0.03-0.37
0.59-0.031100.04160.17-0.03-0.41
0.54-0.031110.04320.17-0.03-0.46
0.50-0.031120.04430.17-0.03-0.50
0.46-0.031130.04470.17-0.03-0.55
0.37-0.031150.04330.16-0.03-0.64
0.33-0.031160.04160.16-0.03-0.68
0.29-0.031170.03940.15-0.03-0.72
0.25-0.021180.03680.14-0.03-0.76
0.19-0.021200.03100.12-0.02-0.82

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 31 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot751051111171241401230
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

spot65100109118127160123123
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 218 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: VTWO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk