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

KBWB max pain

Spot (delayed)$87.56
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$89+1.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.1±11.5% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.04386 puts / 9K calls
Call wall$104largest call OI
Put wall$87largest put OI
IV3023.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.2Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $75

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$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

spot89708192103114125$20M$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 — 89 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot89708793991051259K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KBWB 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

spot897087939910512522
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot70819210311412538%18%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 22.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 7570879399105125+$1.2M−$1.2M
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
0.89-0.01700.01040.10-0.01-0.11
0.83-0.01750.01540.14-0.01-0.16
0.75-0.01800.02200.17-0.02-0.25
0.65-0.02840.02740.20-0.02-0.35
0.63-0.02850.02860.21-0.02-0.38
0.60-0.02860.02970.21-0.02-0.41
0.57-0.02870.03060.22-0.02-0.44
0.54-0.02880.03130.22-0.02-0.48
0.51-0.02890.03180.22-0.02-0.51
0.47-0.02900.03200.22-0.02-0.54
0.44-0.02910.03200.22-0.02-0.58
0.41-0.02920.03170.21-0.02-0.61
0.38-0.02930.03120.21-0.02-0.64
0.35-0.01940.03050.20-0.02-0.67
0.32-0.01950.02960.20-0.02-0.70

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 31 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