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

VKTX max pain

Spot (delayed)$28.5
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$32.5+14.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.01±17.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.359K puts / 24K calls
Call wall$50largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV3060.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$220Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $17.5

Event risk before this expiration: CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 — 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

spot32.5152433425160$42M$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 — 32.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot32.51522.53037.545555K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VKTX open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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 20

spot32.51522.53037.54555498498
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot152433425160127%57%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 64.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 17.51522.53037.54555+$130K−$130K
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 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.00150.00310.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.0117.50.00720.01-0.01-0.02
0.95-0.01200.01560.01-0.01-0.05
0.89-0.0122.50.03040.02-0.01-0.11
0.78-0.02250.05040.03-0.02-0.22
0.62-0.0327.50.06550.04-0.03-0.38
0.46-0.03300.06650.04-0.03-0.55
0.33-0.0332.50.05740.04-0.03-0.68
0.23-0.02350.04590.03-0.03-0.78
0.17-0.0237.50.03580.03-0.02-0.84
0.13-0.02400.02800.02-0.02-0.89
0.10-0.0242.50.02210.02-0.02-0.92
0.08-0.01450.01760.01-0.01-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 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

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