Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 17, 4:36 AM ET

PRKS max pain

Spot (delayed)$32.43
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$50+54.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.2±22.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI2.541K puts / 537 calls
Call wall$50largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV3065.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$32Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $22.5

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$30-7.5%34d
Fri, Dec 18$50+54.2%62d
Fri, Mar 19$40+23.3%153d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot50203040506070$3M$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 — 50 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot502025354555651K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PRKS 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

spot5020253545556511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot203040506070137%36%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 67.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 22.522.535455565+$28K−$28K
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
0.95-0.01200.00890.01-0.01-0.04
0.92-0.0122.50.01510.02-0.01-0.07
0.87-0.01250.02440.03-0.01-0.13
0.68-0.02300.04510.05-0.02-0.32
0.44-0.03350.04760.05-0.03-0.56
0.27-0.02400.03710.04-0.02-0.73
0.17-0.02450.02650.03-0.02-0.83
0.11-0.01500.01880.03-0.02-0.90
0.08-0.01550.01350.02-0.01-0.93
0.06-0.01600.00990.01-0.01-0.96
0.04-0.01650.00740.01-0.01-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 12 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2030405060703970
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

spot17.5254055701K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 954 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: PRKS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk