iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX) Max Pain Analysis

Max pain is the strike price where aggregate option buyer payout is minimized at expiration. It represents the price at which option writers retain the most premium.

iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX) operates in the Financial Services sector, specifically the Asset Management industry, with a market capitalization near $493.5M, listed on CBOE, carrying a beta of -1.97 to the broader market. The iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETNs are designed to provide exposure to the S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Index Total Return. public since 2018-01-25.

Snapshot as of May 15, 2026.

Spot Price

$27.91

Max Pain Strike

$28.00

Total OI

350.3K

As of May 15, 2026, iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX) max pain sits at $28.00, which is essentially at the current spot price of $27.91 (0.3% away). Spot is essentially pinned to max pain right now; the gravitational center and the actual price coincide, the regime where end-of-cycle pinning is mechanically most plausible. VXX sits in the lower-price band (spot $27.91), where $0.50-$2.50 strike spacing makes pin-to-strike effects easy to spot but per-contract dollar gamma is smaller. Total open interest across the listed chain (350.3K contracts) is healthy but not dominant; pinning effects can show but are not guaranteed. VXX is currently in negative dealer gamma (-$6.1M), a regime that amplifies directional moves rather than damping them, weakening the pin-toward-max-pain bias. Max pain identifies the strike at which the aggregate dollar value of all outstanding options contracts would expire with the least total intrinsic value, a gravitational reference rather than a price target.

VXX Strategy Implications at the Current Max Pain Level

With spot effectively pinned the $28.00 max-pain level and iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN in a negative-gamma regime, where dealer hedging amplifies directional moves and weakens any pin, strategy selection turns on cycle position and dealer positioning. Iron condors and credit spreads centered near the max-pain strike capture the typical end-of-cycle convergence when the regime supports pinning; ratio backspreads or directional debit structures fit names where catalyst flow is likely to overwhelm the hedging-driven pull. The gamma-exposure page shows the per-strike dealer book that determines whether hedging will reinforce or fight the pin.

Learn how max pain is reported and how to read the data →

Frequently asked VXX max pain analysis questions

What is the current VXX max pain strike?

As of May 15, 2026, iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX) max pain sits at $28.00, which is 0.3% above the current spot price of $27.91. Max pain identifies the strike at which aggregate option-buyer payouts at expiration are minimized; it is a gravitational reference, not a price target. VXX is essentially pinned right now - the gravitational center and the actual price coincide.

Does VXX pin to its max pain strike at expiration?

VXX is currently in negative dealer gamma, a regime that amplifies directional moves rather than damping them. The pin-toward-max-pain bias weakens here because dealer hedging adds momentum rather than mean reversion. Total open interest across VXX (350.3K contracts) is one input to how plausible a clean pin is - heavier total OI concentrated at fewer strikes raises the probability; thin OI spread across many strikes lowers it. Pinning is strongest in heavily-traded names with large open-interest concentrations at high-OI strikes during the final week of an OPEX cycle. Whether VXX actually pins on a given expiration depends on the OI distribution, the dealer-gamma sign, and the absence of catalyst-driven moves that overwhelm hedging-driven flow.

How is VXX max pain calculated?

Max pain is computed by summing the dollar value of all in-the-money options at each candidate settlement strike across listed expirations, then selecting the strike that minimizes total intrinsic-value payout to option buyers. The calculation uses the full open-interest distribution and weighs both calls and puts. VXX put/call OI ratio is 0.62 - call-heavy, which biases the max-pain calculation toward strikes above current spot when the call OI concentrates there.