Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 3:01 AM ET

KC max pain

Spot (delayed)$8.49
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$10+17.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.4±28.3% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.313K puts / 8K calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3062.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$34Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $10

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$10+17.8%25d
Fri, Dec 18$10+17.8%53d
Fri, Jan 15$10+17.8%81d
Fri, Feb 19$10+17.8%116d
Fri, May 21$5-41.1%207d
Fri, Jan 21$5-41.1%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1051117232935$18M$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, Jan 15

spot10510152025353K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KC 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

spot105101520253555
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot51117232935192%61%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 76.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 1051015202535+$18K−$18K
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
0.89-0.0150.04470.01-0.01-0.11
0.69-0.017.50.12360.01-0.01-0.30
0.36-0.01100.12720.01-0.01-0.62
0.21-0.0112.50.08410.01-0.01-0.76
0.15-0.01150.05860.01-0.01-0.83
0.11-0.0117.50.04360.01-0.01-0.88
0.08-0.00200.03390.01-0.00-0.90
0.07-0.0022.50.02720.01-0.00-0.92
0.06-0.00250.02250.01-0.00-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 9 strikes around the money — all 11 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot510152025355K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5305K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 13K call contracts, 8K 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 · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk