Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 11:30 PM ET

KC max pain

Spot (delayed)$11.45
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$10-12.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.93±34.3% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.36945 puts / 3K calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$12.5largest put OI
IV3078.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$10Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Aug 21$15+31.0%3d
Fri, Sep 18$12.5+9.2%31d
Fri, Nov 20$10-12.7%94d
Fri, Jan 15$12.5+9.2%150d
Fri, Feb 19$10-12.7%185d
Fri, Jan 21$5-56.3%521d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1051015202530$3M$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 — 10 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot105101520251K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KC 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

spot105101520255252
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot51015202530131%76%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 79.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 7.5510152025+$10K$10K
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
0.94-0.0050.01690.01-0.01-0.06
0.87-0.017.50.04210.01-0.01-0.13
0.69-0.01100.07880.02-0.01-0.30
0.47-0.0112.50.09000.02-0.01-0.52
0.30-0.01150.07700.02-0.01-0.69
0.19-0.0117.50.05850.02-0.01-0.80
0.12-0.01200.04240.01-0.00-0.87
0.08-0.0022.50.03020.01-0.00-0.92
0.05-0.00250.02130.01-0.00-0.95
0.02-0.00300.01060.00-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot5101520253K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5303K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 12K call contracts, 6K 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: KC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk