Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 12:01 AM ET

KBWB max pain

Spot (delayed)$87.56
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$87-0.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.55±5.2% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI6.982K puts / 283 calls
Call wall$89largest call OI
Put wall$85largest put OI
IV3023.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$769Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Nov 20$87-0.6%26d
Fri, Dec 18$92+5.1%54d
Fri, Jan 15$88+0.5%82d
Fri, Mar 19$89+1.6%145d
Thu, Jun 17$95+8.5%235d
Fri, Jan 21$86-1.8%453d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot87808487919498$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 — 87 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot878084879093962K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KBWB 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

spot87808487909396200200
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot80848791949838%18%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot808487909396+$688K−$688K
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
0.88-0.03800.02830.05-0.03-0.12
0.82-0.03820.03930.06-0.03-0.18
0.78-0.03830.04570.07-0.03-0.22
0.74-0.04840.05230.08-0.04-0.26
0.69-0.04850.05880.09-0.04-0.32
0.63-0.04860.06440.09-0.04-0.38
0.56-0.04870.06860.10-0.04-0.44
0.49-0.04880.07050.10-0.04-0.51
0.42-0.04890.06990.10-0.04-0.58
0.35-0.04900.06680.09-0.04-0.65
0.29-0.03910.06160.08-0.03-0.71
0.23-0.03920.05500.07-0.03-0.77
0.19-0.03930.04790.07-0.03-0.82
0.15-0.02940.04090.06-0.03-0.86
0.12-0.02950.03440.05-0.02-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 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

spot4569778491987K0
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

spot407080901001159K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 21K call contracts, 19K 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: KBWB workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk