Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 2:12 PM ET

KMB max pain

Spot (delayed)$111.05
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$100-10.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9±8.1% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.507K puts / 15K calls
Call wall$110largest call OI
Put wall$95largest put OI
IV3028.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3.5Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $110

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 30$104-6.3%4d
Fri, Nov 6$103-7.2%11d
Fri, Nov 13$98-11.8%18d
Fri, Nov 20$105-5.4%25d
Fri, Nov 27$105-5.4%32d
Fri, Dec 4$100-10.0%39d
Fri, Dec 18$100-10.0%53d
Fri, Jan 15$100-10.0%81d
Fri, Mar 19$100-10.0%144d
Fri, Apr 16$105-5.4%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot100507192113134155$58M$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 — 100 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot1005070901101301504K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KMB 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

spot10050709011013015044
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot50719211313415590%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 25.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 110507090110130150+$1.6M−$1.6M
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
0.98-0.01750.00210.02-0.01-0.03
0.98-0.01800.00290.02-0.01-0.04
0.97-0.01850.00410.03-0.02-0.04
0.96-0.01900.00630.04-0.02-0.06
0.93-0.01950.01080.05-0.02-0.10
0.87-0.031000.01920.09-0.03-0.17
0.74-0.041050.03010.13-0.04-0.30
0.57-0.041100.03780.16-0.04-0.47
0.38-0.041150.03730.16-0.04-0.65
0.23-0.031200.02890.13-0.03-0.79
0.13-0.021250.01930.09-0.02-0.88
0.09-0.021300.01320.07-0.02-0.91
0.07-0.021350.00960.06-0.01-0.93
0.06-0.021400.00740.05-0.01-0.94
0.05-0.021450.00590.04-0.01-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot70941001061121182K0
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

spot50891001111251809K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 58K call contracts, 31K 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: KMB workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk