Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 6:24 PM ET

VKTX max pain

Spot (delayed)$33.11
Max pain · Fri, Sep 4$33-0.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.82±11.5% by Fri, Sep 4
Put/Call OI0.48408 puts / 854 calls
Call wall$33largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3067.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$20Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $28

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$32.5-1.8%6d
Fri, Aug 28$35+5.7%13d
Fri, Sep 4$33-0.3%20d
Fri, Sep 11$34+2.7%27d
Fri, Sep 18$32.5-1.8%34d
Fri, Sep 25$34+2.7%41d
Fri, Oct 2$29-12.4%48d
Fri, Oct 16$30-9.4%62d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot33263238434955$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 — 33 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot332631353946364364
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VKTX open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 4.

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 4

spot332631353946102102
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot283339445055117%42%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 60.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spotflip 282631353946+$29K$29K
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 4

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.92-0.02260.02380.01-0.02-0.08
0.87-0.03280.03910.02-0.03-0.14
0.82-0.03290.04900.02-0.03-0.18
0.77-0.04300.05980.02-0.04-0.23
0.71-0.04310.07040.03-0.04-0.30
0.63-0.04320.07910.03-0.04-0.37
0.55-0.04330.08410.03-0.04-0.46
0.47-0.04340.08450.03-0.04-0.54
0.39-0.04350.08060.03-0.04-0.62
0.32-0.04360.07390.03-0.04-0.69
0.26-0.04370.06570.03-0.04-0.75
0.21-0.04380.05730.02-0.04-0.80
0.18-0.03390.04940.02-0.03-0.83
0.14-0.03400.04240.02-0.03-0.86

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 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

spot152933.537.541.547.55K0
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

spot12.5283440487523K23K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 187K call contracts, 38K 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: VKTX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk