Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 12:41 AM ET

KHC max pain

Spot (delayed)$22.49
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$22-2.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.61±2.7% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.2724K puts / 87K calls
Call wall$22.5largest call OI
Put wall$21largest put OI
IV3031.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$12.8Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $16

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 16$22-2.2%2d
Fri, Oct 23$22-2.2%9d
Fri, Oct 30$23+2.3%16d
Fri, Nov 6$23+2.3%23d
Fri, Nov 13$22.5+0.0%30d
Fri, Nov 20$22.5+0.0%37d
Fri, Nov 27$22-2.2%44d
Fri, Dec 18$25+11.2%65d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot22131722263135$98M$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 — 22 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot2212.5192225283324K24K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KHC open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 16.

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, Oct 16

spot2212.51922252833202202
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot182022242628123%27%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 32.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 16151820.522.524.526.5+$6.0M−$6.0M
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, Oct 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.00-0.00190.00610.00-0.00-0.00
0.99-0.0019.50.01120.00-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.00200.02160.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.0120.50.04400.00-0.01-0.02
0.96-0.01210.09530.00-0.01-0.04
0.91-0.0221.50.21570.00-0.02-0.09
0.78-0.03220.46600.01-0.03-0.23
0.49-0.0422.50.69430.01-0.04-0.52
0.19-0.03230.46660.01-0.03-0.82
0.06-0.0123.50.18820.00-0.01-0.95
0.02-0.00240.06990.00-0.01-0.99
0.01-0.0024.50.02740.00-0.00-1.00
0.00-0.00250.01150.00-0.00-1.00
0.000.0025.50.00520.00-0.00-1.00
0.000.00260.00250.00-0.00-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 32 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot12.5192225283224K0
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

spot12.519.523.527.531.54552K52K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 257K call contracts, 145K 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: KHC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk