Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 27, 1:58 AM ET

KGC max pain

Spot (delayed)$32.72
Max pain · Fri, Sep 11$27-17.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.59±7.9% by Fri, Sep 11
Put/Call OI0.34191 puts / 568 calls
Call wall$35.5largest call OI
Put wall$26largest put OI
IV3050.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$33Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $20.5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 28$30-8.3%1d
Fri, Sep 4$26-20.5%8d
Fri, Sep 11$27-17.5%15d
Fri, Sep 18$27-17.5%22d
Fri, Sep 25$27-17.5%29d
Fri, Oct 2$28-14.4%36d
Fri, Oct 16$30-8.3%50d
Fri, Nov 20$28-14.4%85d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot27152025303540$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 — 27 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spot27152225.528.532.535.57575
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KGC open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 11.

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, Sep 11

spot27152225.528.532.535.55353
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spot202428323640190%44%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 47.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spotflip 20.515232629.533.538+$7K$7K
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, Sep 11

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.90-0.02280.04530.01-0.02-0.10
0.88-0.0228.50.05420.01-0.02-0.12
0.85-0.03290.06410.02-0.03-0.15
0.82-0.0329.50.07470.02-0.03-0.18
0.78-0.03300.08560.02-0.03-0.22
0.68-0.04310.10530.02-0.04-0.32
0.57-0.04320.11690.03-0.04-0.44
0.51-0.0432.50.11830.03-0.04-0.50
0.45-0.04330.11680.03-0.04-0.55
0.40-0.0433.50.11260.03-0.04-0.61
0.35-0.04340.10650.03-0.04-0.66
0.30-0.0434.50.09910.02-0.04-0.71
0.26-0.04350.09090.02-0.04-0.75
0.23-0.0335.50.08260.02-0.03-0.78
0.19-0.03360.07440.02-0.03-0.81

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 35 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1520.524.528.532.536.59600
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

spot318.523.528.533.538.523K23K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 117K call contracts, 67K 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: KGC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk