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

PRKS max pain

Spot (delayed)$32.43
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$40+23.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.68±26.7% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.25517 puts / 414 calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3065.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$8Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $25

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

spot40203040506070$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot40202535456070504504
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PRKS open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

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, Mar 19

spot4020253545607011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot20304050607085%40%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 51.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 25202535456070+$18K−$18K
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.94-0.01200.01050.03-0.01-0.07
0.90-0.0122.50.01530.04-0.01-0.12
0.84-0.01250.02070.05-0.01-0.17
0.69-0.01300.03040.08-0.01-0.33
0.53-0.01350.03450.09-0.02-0.50
0.38-0.01400.03260.08-0.01-0.65
0.27-0.01450.02780.07-0.01-0.78
0.19-0.01500.02240.06-0.01-0.87
0.10-0.01600.01360.04-0.01-0.98
0.07-0.01650.01050.03-0.00-1.00
0.05-0.00700.00810.02-0.00-1.00

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

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