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

VTWO max pain

Spot (delayed)$111.37
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$105-5.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.7±10.5% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.3494 puts / 276 calls
Call wall$110largest call OI
Put wall$85largest put OI
IV3020.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$63Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $110

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

spot105758799111123135$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 — 105 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot105751051151191231286666
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VTWO open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

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, Mar 19

spot1057510511511912312811
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot75879911112313544%15%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 20.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 11080110116120124130+$21K−$21K
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.01750.00320.06-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.01800.00440.08-0.01-0.06
0.92-0.01850.00610.10-0.01-0.08
0.79-0.021000.01610.20-0.02-0.21
0.70-0.021050.02120.24-0.02-0.30
0.59-0.021100.02600.27-0.02-0.42
0.51-0.021130.02780.28-0.02-0.51
0.48-0.021140.02810.28-0.02-0.54
0.45-0.021150.02820.28-0.02-0.57
0.42-0.021160.02820.28-0.02-0.60
0.40-0.021170.02800.27-0.02-0.63
0.37-0.021180.02760.27-0.02-0.66
0.34-0.021190.02700.26-0.02-0.68

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 23 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