Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 10, 11:39 PM ET

KDP max pain

Spot (delayed)$31.75
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$31-2.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.15±9.9% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.222K puts / 8K calls
Call wall$34largest call OI
Put wall$27largest put OI
IV3027.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$546Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $33

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Oct 16$31-2.4%4d
Fri, Nov 20$27-15.0%39d
Fri, Dec 18$31-2.4%67d
Fri, Jan 15$30-5.5%95d
Fri, Mar 19$30-5.5%158d
Fri, Apr 16$30-5.5%186d
Thu, Jun 17$32+0.8%248d
Fri, Sep 17$30-5.5%340d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot31152127333945$8M$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 — 31 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot311524283236405K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KDP open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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, Dec 18

spot311524283236403838
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot15212733394592%26%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 28.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 33152428323640+$429K−$429K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.93-0.01250.02320.02-0.01-0.07
0.91-0.01260.03080.02-0.01-0.09
0.88-0.01270.04060.03-0.01-0.12
0.84-0.01280.05300.03-0.01-0.16
0.78-0.01290.06770.04-0.01-0.22
0.71-0.01300.08320.05-0.01-0.29
0.62-0.01310.09640.05-0.01-0.38
0.52-0.01320.10380.06-0.01-0.48
0.42-0.01330.10280.05-0.01-0.59
0.33-0.01340.09450.05-0.01-0.69
0.25-0.01350.08170.04-0.01-0.77
0.19-0.01360.06780.04-0.01-0.83
0.14-0.01370.05490.03-0.01-0.88
0.10-0.01380.04360.03-0.01-0.92
0.08-0.00390.03450.02-0.01-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot21263034384512K0
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

spot15232833384713K13K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 50K call contracts, 15K 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: KDP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk