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

VKTX max pain

Spot (delayed)$33.11
Max pain · Fri, Sep 25$34+2.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.64±23.1% by Fri, Sep 25
Put/Call OI0.30152 puts / 501 calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$34largest put OI
IV3067.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$13Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $40

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$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

spot34293235394245$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 — 34 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot342931343842407407
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VKTX open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 25.

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 25

spot3429313438424444
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot29323539424598%72%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 85.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spotflip 402931343842+$16K$16K
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 25

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.74-0.04290.03410.04-0.04-0.27
0.70-0.04300.03660.04-0.04-0.31
0.66-0.04310.03860.04-0.04-0.35
0.62-0.04320.04000.04-0.04-0.39
0.54-0.05340.04140.04-0.05-0.47
0.50-0.05350.04130.04-0.05-0.51
0.39-0.04380.03890.04-0.05-0.62
0.33-0.04400.03610.04-0.04-0.68
0.28-0.04420.03290.04-0.04-0.73
0.22-0.04450.02810.03-0.04-0.79

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

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