Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 2:59 AM ET

KALU max pain

Spot (delayed)$110
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$140+27.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.05±13.7% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.42110 puts / 260 calls
Call wall$175largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3047.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$508per 1% move · flip ≈ $90

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 20$120+9.1%25d
Fri, Dec 18$140+27.3%53d
Fri, Mar 19$130+18.2%144d
Thu, Jun 17$130+18.2%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot14075116157198239280$3M$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 — 140 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot140751101401651902504141
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KALU open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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, Dec 18

spot1407511014016519025011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot75116157198239280154%41%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 43.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 9075110140165190250+$6K−$6K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.01750.00300.03-0.01-0.03
0.95-0.02800.00490.04-0.02-0.05
0.87-0.04900.01110.09-0.04-0.14
0.71-0.061000.01790.15-0.06-0.30
0.61-0.071050.01980.16-0.07-0.40
0.51-0.071100.02040.17-0.07-0.51
0.41-0.071150.01960.16-0.07-0.60
0.33-0.071200.01800.15-0.07-0.69
0.26-0.061250.01580.14-0.06-0.76
0.16-0.051350.01140.10-0.05-0.87
0.12-0.041400.00940.09-0.05-0.91
0.10-0.031450.00770.07-0.04-0.94
0.07-0.031500.00630.06-0.03-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 29 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot801151451752102702960
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

spot5590125160195260296296
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 261 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: KALU workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk