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

KHC max pain

Spot (delayed)$22.49
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$25+11.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.35±10.4% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.8229K puts / 36K calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3031.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$448Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — 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

spot25132028354350$66M$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 — 25 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot2512.52027.53542.5509K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KHC open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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, Dec 18

spot2512.52027.53542.550284284
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot132028354350103%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot12.52027.53542.550+$459K−$459K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.00—12.50.00100.00-0.00-0.01
0.99—150.00500.00-0.00-0.02
0.97-0.0017.50.02280.01-0.00-0.06
0.86-0.01200.08530.02-0.01-0.19
0.54-0.0122.50.16450.04-0.01-0.52
0.21-0.01250.10780.03-0.01-0.82
0.08-0.0027.50.04810.01-0.00-0.93
0.04-0.00300.02250.01-0.00-0.97
0.02-0.0032.50.01170.00—-0.99
0.01-0.00350.00660.00—-0.99
0.01-0.0037.50.00410.00—-1.00
0.000.00400.00260.00—-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 16 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