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

KHC max pain

Spot (delayed)$22.49
Max pain · Fri, Oct 23$22-2.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.9±4.0% by Fri, Oct 23
Put/Call OI0.342K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$24largest call OI
Put wall$22.5largest put OI
IV3031.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$148Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $20.5

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

spot22151821252831$4M$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 23

spot22152022.52527.530965965
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KHC open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 23.

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 23

spot22152022.52527.530374374
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 23

spot192124262931120%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 23

spotflip 20.5152022.52527.531+$66K−$66K
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 23

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.01190.02930.00-0.01-0.03
0.97-0.0119.50.04300.00-0.01-0.04
0.95-0.01200.06430.00-0.01-0.05
0.92-0.0120.50.09790.01-0.01-0.08
0.88-0.01210.15020.01-0.01-0.13
0.80-0.0221.50.22700.01-0.02-0.20
0.68-0.02220.32040.01-0.02-0.33
0.51-0.0222.50.38310.01-0.02-0.50
0.32-0.02230.35100.01-0.02-0.69
0.18-0.0123.50.25010.01-0.01-0.84
0.10-0.01240.15520.01-0.01-0.93
0.05-0.0124.50.09200.00-0.01-0.97
0.03-0.00250.05450.00-0.01-0.99
0.02-0.0025.50.03290.00-0.00-1.00
0.01-0.00260.02030.00-0.00-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 27 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