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

KC max pain

Spot (delayed)$11.45
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$12.5+9.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.45±38.9% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.461K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$12.5largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3078.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$10Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $12.5

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 · 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, 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

spot12.551117232935$5M$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 — 12.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot12.551015202535822822
■ 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

spot12.5510152025351010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot51117232935117%61%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 72.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 12.551015202535+$6K$6K
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
0.90-0.0150.01550.01-0.01-0.09
0.83-0.017.50.03670.02-0.01-0.16
0.69-0.01100.06180.03-0.01-0.30
0.51-0.0112.50.07200.03-0.01-0.47
0.37-0.01150.06730.03-0.01-0.62
0.27-0.0117.50.05730.02-0.01-0.73
0.20-0.01200.04710.02-0.00-0.80
0.14-0.0022.50.03810.02-0.00-0.86
0.11-0.00250.03080.01-0.00-0.90
0.06-0.00300.02000.010.00-0.95
0.04-0.00350.01310.01-0.99

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