Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 1:15 PM ET

TKR max pain

Spot (delayed)$131.3
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$130-1.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$12.2±9.3% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.60448 puts / 752 calls
Call wall$135largest call OI
Put wall$120largest put OI
IV3036.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$131Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $135

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$130-1.0%6d
Fri, Sep 18$130-1.0%34d
Fri, Nov 20$85-35.3%97d
Fri, Dec 18$90-31.5%125d
Fri, Mar 19$85-35.3%216d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1306087114141168195$4M$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 — 130 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot1306085110135160185226226
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TKR 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

spot13060851101351601853939
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot6087114141168195116%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 1356085110135160185+$98K$98K
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
0.97-0.01950.00300.03-0.02-0.03
0.96-0.021000.00420.04-0.03-0.04
0.94-0.021050.00610.05-0.03-0.06
0.91-0.041100.00890.07-0.04-0.09
0.86-0.051150.01300.09-0.05-0.14
0.79-0.061200.01800.12-0.06-0.21
0.69-0.071250.02310.15-0.07-0.32
0.56-0.081300.02630.16-0.08-0.44
0.43-0.081350.02610.16-0.08-0.58
0.32-0.071400.02310.15-0.07-0.69
0.23-0.071450.01890.12-0.06-0.78
0.16-0.061500.01480.10-0.05-0.85
0.12-0.051550.01140.08-0.04-0.90
0.09-0.041600.00870.07-0.03-0.93
0.06-0.031650.00660.05-0.02-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 28 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot50851101351601851K0
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

spot45751051351651951K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 8K 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: TKR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk