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

KMB max pain

Spot (delayed)$111.05
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$100-10.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.5±13.1% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.993K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$100largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3028.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$191Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $115

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

spot100507396119142165$16M$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, Mar 19

spot1005070901101301501K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KMB open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

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, Mar 19

spot1005070901101301502020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot50739611914216574%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 115507090110130150+$142K−$142K
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.00750.00250.03-0.01-0.04
0.97-0.00800.00400.04-0.01-0.05
0.95-0.01850.00640.08-0.01-0.08
0.91-0.01900.00950.11-0.01-0.12
0.84-0.01950.01310.16-0.02-0.18
0.77-0.021000.01690.20-0.02-0.26
0.67-0.021050.02020.25-0.02-0.36
0.56-0.021100.02250.27-0.02-0.46
0.45-0.021150.02300.27-0.02-0.57
0.34-0.021200.02160.25-0.02-0.68
0.25-0.021250.01890.22-0.02-0.77
0.17-0.011300.01530.18-0.01-0.84
0.12-0.011350.01180.14-0.01-0.89
0.09-0.011400.00920.11-0.01-0.93
0.07-0.011450.00720.09-0.01-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 23 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