Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 12, 10:02 AM ET

VKTX max pain

Spot (delayed)$28.5
Max pain · Fri, Nov 6$31+8.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.1±14.4% by Fri, Nov 6
Put/Call OI0.35525 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$32largest put OI
IV3060.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$31Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $25

Event risk before this expiration: CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 16$30+5.3%4d
Fri, Oct 23$30+5.3%11d
Fri, Oct 30$30+5.3%18d
Fri, Nov 6$31+8.8%25d
Fri, Nov 13$30+5.3%32d
Fri, Nov 20$32.5+14.0%39d
Fri, Nov 27$25-12.3%46d
Fri, Jan 15$27.5-3.5%95d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot31202633394652$2M$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 — 31 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 6

spot31202631364152509509
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VKTX open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 6.

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, Nov 6

spot31202631364152128128
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 6

spot202633394652148%46%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 65.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 6

spotflip 25202631364152+$13K−$13K
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, Nov 6

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.01200.01230.01-0.01-0.03
0.93-0.01220.02430.01-0.01-0.07
0.91-0.01230.03310.01-0.01-0.10
0.87-0.02240.04390.02-0.02-0.14
0.81-0.02250.05590.02-0.02-0.19
0.75-0.03260.06770.03-0.03-0.26
0.67-0.03270.07720.03-0.03-0.33
0.59-0.03280.08260.03-0.03-0.42
0.50-0.03290.08340.03-0.03-0.50
0.43-0.03300.08020.03-0.04-0.58
0.36-0.03310.07440.03-0.03-0.65
0.30-0.03320.06740.03-0.03-0.70
0.26-0.03330.06000.03-0.03-0.75
0.21-0.03340.05300.02-0.03-0.79
0.18-0.03350.04660.02-0.03-0.83

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 26 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1524.52933.5394723K0
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

spot12.525.53240518045K45K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 267K call contracts, 61K 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