Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 1:27 AM ET

KEX max pain

Spot (delayed)$138.62
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$130-6.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.1±3.7% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.7727 puts / 35 calls
Call wall$145largest call OI
Put wall$130largest put OI
IV3024.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$6Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $145

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$130-6.2%5d
Fri, Sep 18$140+1.0%33d
Fri, Dec 18$120-13.4%124d
Fri, Mar 19$135-2.6%215d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot13085101117133149165$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 — 130 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot13085951301401501601515
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KEX open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 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, Aug 21

spot130859513014015016011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot12513314114915716596%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 31.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 1458595130140150160+$10K$10K
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, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.03850.00060.00-0.03-0.01
0.99-0.03900.00080.00-0.04-0.01
0.99-0.04950.00120.01-0.04-0.01
0.93-0.101250.01430.03-0.10-0.08
0.88-0.121300.02720.04-0.12-0.13
0.74-0.141350.05800.06-0.14-0.27
0.39-0.141400.07830.07-0.14-0.62
0.17-0.111450.03880.05-0.11-0.83
0.09-0.091500.02030.03-0.09-0.91
0.06-0.081550.01220.02-0.08-0.94
0.04-0.071600.00800.02-0.07-0.95
0.03-0.061650.00570.01-0.06-0.96

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

spot751201401601802001930
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

spot6090120150180220193193
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 643 call contracts, 155 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: KEX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk