Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 3:05 AM ET

KBH max pain

Spot (delayed)$46.19
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$55+19.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.25±13.5% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.3211K puts / 9K calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV3041.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$193Kper 1% move

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$45-2.6%28d
Fri, Dec 18$55+19.1%56d
Fri, Jan 15$50+8.2%84d
Fri, Mar 19$45-2.6%147d
Fri, Apr 16$45-2.6%175d
Thu, Jun 17$50+8.2%237d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot5525466788109130$43M$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 — 55 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot5525384450801108K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KBH 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

spot552538445080110211211
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot25466788109130114%30%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 43.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot253742476085+$68K−$68K
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
0.85-0.01390.02960.04-0.02-0.15
0.82-0.02400.03390.05-0.02-0.18
0.78-0.02410.03820.05-0.02-0.22
0.74-0.02420.04230.06-0.02-0.26
0.69-0.02430.04590.06-0.02-0.31
0.65-0.02440.04900.07-0.02-0.36
0.59-0.02450.05140.07-0.03-0.41
0.54-0.03460.05300.07-0.03-0.46
0.49-0.03470.05350.07-0.03-0.52
0.44-0.03480.05310.07-0.02-0.57
0.39-0.02490.05180.07-0.02-0.62
0.34-0.02500.04970.07-0.02-0.67
0.15-0.01550.03240.04-0.01-0.85
0.06-0.01600.01660.02-0.00-0.95
0.03-0.00650.00760.01—-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 35 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot254450751001253K0
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

spot25384450801109K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 19K call contracts, 21K 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: KBH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk