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

KALU max pain

Spot (delayed)$110
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$130+18.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$24.9±22.6% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.3454 puts / 157 calls
Call wall$130largest call OI
Put wall$145largest put OI
IV3047.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$10Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $130

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

spot13085110135160185210$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 — 130 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot130851001251451601958787
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KALU open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

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, Mar 19

spot130851001251451601955454
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot8511013516018521074%40%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 45.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 13085100125145160195+$12K−$12K
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.84-0.03850.00780.17-0.03-0.17
0.79-0.03900.00930.20-0.03-0.22
0.73-0.04950.01070.23-0.04-0.28
0.67-0.041000.01180.25-0.04-0.34
0.55-0.041100.01300.27-0.04-0.47
0.43-0.041200.01280.27-0.04-0.59
0.37-0.041250.01230.26-0.04-0.65
0.32-0.041300.01160.24-0.04-0.70
0.24-0.031400.00990.21-0.04-0.78
0.21-0.031450.00910.20-0.03-0.82
0.18-0.031500.00820.18-0.03-0.85
0.16-0.031550.00740.16-0.03-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 18 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