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

PTGX max pain

Spot (delayed)$152.01
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$135-11.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$16.8±11.1% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.3338 puts / 114 calls
Call wall$145largest call OI
Put wall$135largest put OI
IV3045.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$27Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $120

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$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

spot135105124143162181200$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 — 135 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot1351051401551701907777
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PTGX 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

spot13510514015517019033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot105124143162181200101%41%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 43.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 120105140155170190+$22K$22K
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
0.95-0.041050.00270.05-0.05-0.05
0.90-0.071200.00570.09-0.07-0.10
0.79-0.101350.01130.14-0.10-0.21
0.73-0.111400.01360.16-0.11-0.27
0.66-0.111450.01580.18-0.12-0.34
0.57-0.121500.01740.19-0.12-0.43
0.48-0.121550.01800.19-0.12-0.52
0.40-0.121600.01740.19-0.12-0.60
0.32-0.111650.01590.17-0.11-0.68
0.26-0.101700.01400.16-0.10-0.74
0.17-0.081800.01030.12-0.08-0.83
0.14-0.071850.00880.11-0.07-0.86
0.12-0.071900.00740.10-0.07-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 14 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