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

KBH max pain

Spot (delayed)$46.19
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$50+8.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.4±16.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.785K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV3041.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$18Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $30

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

spot5025466788109130$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 — 50 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot50254565851051252K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KBH open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot50254565851051258686
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot2546678810913093%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 42.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 3025456585105130+$143K−$143K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99—250.00180.00-0.00-0.01
0.97-0.00300.00700.01-0.01-0.04
0.90-0.01350.01630.04-0.01-0.10
0.78-0.01400.02970.07-0.02-0.22
0.59-0.02450.04160.09-0.02-0.41
0.38-0.02500.04220.09-0.02-0.62
0.22-0.01550.03250.07-0.01-0.80
0.12-0.01600.02120.04-0.01-0.90
0.06-0.01650.01270.03-0.00-0.96
0.03-0.00700.00750.02—-0.98
0.02-0.00750.00450.01—-0.99
0.01-0.00800.00270.01—-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 22 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