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

VKTX max pain

Spot (delayed)$33.11
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$30-9.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.73±29.4% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.289K puts / 32K calls
Call wall$47.5largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3067.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$640Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $17.5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 — 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

spot30152433425160$44M$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 — 30 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot301522.53037.5455521K21K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VKTX open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 16.

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, Oct 16

spot301522.53037.54555112112
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot152433425160146%71%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 89.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 17.51522.53037.54555+$537K$537K
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, Oct 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.01150.00400.01-0.01-0.03
0.95-0.0117.50.00660.01-0.01-0.05
0.93-0.01200.01030.02-0.01-0.07
0.89-0.0222.50.01490.03-0.02-0.12
0.83-0.03250.02020.04-0.03-0.17
0.76-0.0327.50.02510.04-0.03-0.24
0.68-0.04300.02900.05-0.04-0.32
0.60-0.0432.50.03130.05-0.04-0.40
0.53-0.04350.03200.06-0.04-0.48
0.46-0.0437.50.03140.06-0.04-0.55
0.40-0.04400.02990.05-0.04-0.61
0.34-0.0442.50.02800.05-0.04-0.67
0.30-0.04450.02580.05-0.04-0.71
0.26-0.0447.50.02370.04-0.04-0.75
0.23-0.03500.02160.04-0.03-0.78

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 17 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