Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 11:59 PM ET

KD max pain

Spot (delayed)$14.76
Max pain · Thu, Jun 17$15+1.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.5±37.3% by Thu, Jun 17
Put/Call OI0.139 puts / 68 calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3071.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$755per 1% move · flip ≈ $15

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$12-18.7%27d
Fri, Dec 18$10-32.2%55d
Fri, Jan 15$13-11.9%83d
Fri, Mar 19$13-11.9%146d
Thu, Jun 17$15+1.6%236d
Fri, Jan 21$10-32.2%454d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot156913162023$1M$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot15610141720234747
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KD open contracts per strike for Thu, Jun 17.

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 · Thu, Jun 17

spot15610141720231010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot691316202385%55%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 58.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spotflip 1561014172023+$547−$547
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 · Thu, Jun 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.0060.00950.01-0.00-0.05
0.91-0.0080.01760.02-0.00-0.09
0.85-0.00100.02880.03-0.00-0.15
0.71-0.01130.04670.04-0.01-0.29
0.66-0.01140.05120.04-0.01-0.35
0.61-0.01150.05460.05-0.01-0.40
0.50-0.01170.05750.05-0.01-0.52
0.45-0.01180.05740.05-0.01-0.57
0.36-0.01200.05450.04-0.01-0.67
0.29-0.01220.04970.04-0.01-0.75
0.26-0.01230.04690.04-0.01-0.79

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

spot19152127505K0
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

spot18152230506K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 30K call contracts, 18K 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: KD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk