Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 3:13 AM ET

VXUS max pain

Spot (delayed)$82.82
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$83+0.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.35±5.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.3292 puts / 287 calls
Call wall$86largest call OI
Put wall$84largest put OI
IV3017.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$70Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $80

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, Oct 30$85+2.6%5d
Fri, Nov 20$85+2.6%26d
Fri, Dec 18$83+0.2%54d
Fri, Jan 15$85+2.6%82d
Fri, Apr 16$78-5.8%173d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot83747882879195$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 — 83 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot8374788286909191
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VXUS 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

spot83747882869044
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot74788287919533%14%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 16.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 807478828690+$40K−$40K
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
0.81-0.02760.03290.09-0.02-0.18
0.78-0.02770.03750.09-0.02-0.21
0.75-0.02780.04280.10-0.02-0.24
0.71-0.02790.04860.11-0.02-0.28
0.67-0.02800.05470.12-0.02-0.33
0.61-0.02810.06080.12-0.02-0.38
0.55-0.02820.06620.13-0.02-0.45
0.48-0.02830.07000.13-0.02-0.51
0.41-0.02840.07100.13-0.02-0.59
0.34-0.02850.06870.12-0.02-0.66
0.27-0.01860.06330.11-0.02-0.73
0.21-0.01870.05580.10-0.01-0.79
0.17-0.01880.04760.08-0.01-0.84
0.13-0.01890.03980.07-0.01-0.87
0.10-0.01900.03290.06-0.01-0.90

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 19 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot708084.58790944470
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

spot55778386.59093.5845845
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 2K 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: VXUS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk