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

KC max pain

Spot (delayed)$8.49
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$5-41.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.7±55.4% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI2.424K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$12.5largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV3062.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$3Kper 1% move

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

spot53916222935$4M$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot52.57.512.517.522.5304K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KC open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 21.

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 21

spot52.57.512.517.522.5306969
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot3916222935158%53%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 64.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot2.57.512.517.522.530+$8K−$8K
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 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.93-0.002.50.01230.01-0.00-0.05
0.83-0.0050.03330.02-0.00-0.14
0.68-0.007.50.05690.03-0.00-0.29
0.53-0.00100.06210.04-0.00-0.43
0.44-0.0012.50.05750.04-0.00-0.53
0.38-0.00150.05220.04-0.00-0.60
0.33-0.0017.50.04750.03-0.00-0.65
0.30-0.00200.04370.03-0.00-0.70
0.27-0.0022.50.04050.03-0.00-0.73
0.25-0.00250.03780.03-0.00-0.77

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 12 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