Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 11:22 AM ET

PTGX max pain

Spot (delayed)$152.01
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$135-11.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.33±6.8% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.50588 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$145largest call OI
Put wall$135largest put OI
IV3045.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$509Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $110

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$135-11.2%8d
Fri, Sep 18$135-11.2%36d
Fri, Oct 16$90-40.8%64d
Fri, Jan 15$80-47.4%155d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot13585107129151173195$6M$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 — 135 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot13585110130150170606606
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PTGX 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

spot13585110130150170101101
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot100119138157176195204%49%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 53.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 110100115130145160180+$369K$369K
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
0.99-0.011150.00090.00-0.01-0.01
0.99-0.021200.00170.01-0.02-0.01
0.98-0.031250.00320.01-0.04-0.02
0.96-0.061300.00600.02-0.06-0.04
0.93-0.091350.01080.03-0.10-0.07
0.86-0.141400.01830.05-0.15-0.14
0.75-0.201450.02760.08-0.21-0.25
0.59-0.251500.03470.09-0.25-0.41
0.41-0.241550.03500.09-0.25-0.59
0.26-0.211600.02870.08-0.21-0.74
0.16-0.151650.02040.06-0.15-0.85
0.09-0.111700.01340.04-0.11-0.91
0.03-0.051800.00520.02-0.05-0.97
0.01-0.021900.00210.01-0.02-0.99
0.01-0.011950.00130.01-0.01-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 20 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot50851101351601856860
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

spot45751051351651952K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K 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: PTGX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk