Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 3:13 AM ET

PKX max pain

Spot (delayed)$58.6
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$55-6.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.2±8.9% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.9121 puts / 23 calls
Call wall$75largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV3042.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$460per 1% move · flip ≈ $75

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$55-6.1%5d
Fri, Sep 18$55-6.1%33d
Fri, Nov 20$65+10.9%96d
Fri, Feb 19$55-6.1%187d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot55354351596775$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 — 55 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot55355060701818
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PKX open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 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, Sep 18

spot553550607044
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot354351596775106%36%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 7535506070+$952$952
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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.01350.00360.01-0.02-0.03
0.92-0.03450.01350.03-0.03-0.09
0.84-0.04500.02510.04-0.04-0.17
0.69-0.04550.04280.06-0.04-0.31
0.45-0.04600.05350.07-0.04-0.56
0.23-0.03650.03960.06-0.03-0.77
0.13-0.03700.02430.04-0.03-0.88
0.08-0.02750.01540.03-0.02-0.93

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

spot305070901103160
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

spot25456585105125316316
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 691 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: PKX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk