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

KHC max pain

Spot (delayed)$22.49
Max pain · Fri, Oct 30$23+2.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.09±4.8% by Fri, Oct 30
Put/Call OI0.906K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$23largest call OI
Put wall$23largest put OI
IV3031.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$42Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $19.5

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

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

spot23151821242730$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 — 23 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot231519.521.523.525.527.53K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KHC open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 30.

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 30

spot231519.521.523.525.527.54646
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot182023252830107%26%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 28.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spotflip 19.51519.521.523.525.527.5+$102K−$102K
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 30

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.01190.03730.00-0.01-0.04
0.95-0.0119.50.05210.01-0.01-0.05
0.93-0.01200.07390.01-0.01-0.07
0.90-0.0120.50.10560.01-0.01-0.11
0.85-0.01210.15080.01-0.01-0.16
0.77-0.0121.50.20950.01-0.01-0.23
0.66-0.01220.27060.02-0.01-0.35
0.51-0.0122.50.30460.02-0.02-0.49
0.36-0.01230.28720.02-0.01-0.64
0.25-0.0123.50.23290.01-0.01-0.77
0.16-0.01240.17290.01-0.01-0.85
0.11-0.0124.50.12350.01-0.01-0.91
0.07-0.01250.08740.01-0.01-0.94
0.05-0.0125.50.06200.01-0.01-0.97
0.04-0.00260.04440.00-0.00-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 24 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