Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 11:36 PM ET

PKE max pain

Spot (delayed)$37.49
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$25-33.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.54±6.8% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.11139 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$55largest put OI
IV3057.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$116Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $17.5

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$25-33.3%4d
Fri, Sep 18$40+6.7%32d
Fri, Nov 20$25-33.3%95d
Fri, Feb 19$35-6.6%186d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot25132130384755$2M$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 — 25 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot2512.517.522.5304050559559
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PKE 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

spot2512.517.522.53040507979
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot253035404550298%49%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 82.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 17.512.52025354555+$80K$80K
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
1.00-0.0012.50.00020.00-0.00-0.00
1.00-0.00150.00040.00-0.00-0.00
1.00-0.0017.50.00070.00-0.01-0.00
1.00-0.01200.00110.00-0.01-0.00
0.99-0.0122.50.00200.00-0.01-0.01
0.99-0.01250.00360.00-0.01-0.01
0.97-0.03300.01460.00-0.03-0.03
0.83-0.08350.08980.01-0.09-0.17
0.19-0.09400.10280.01-0.09-0.81
0.04-0.04450.02320.00-0.03-0.96
0.01-0.02500.00780.00-0.01-0.99
0.01-0.01550.00330.00-0.01-0.99

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

spot1520253545557730
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

spot12.517.522.5304050803803
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 251 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: PKE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk