Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 19, 1:26 AM ET

KNF max pain

Spot (delayed)$65.45
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$65-0.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.25±9.5% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.318 puts / 26 calls
Call wall$65largest call OI
Put wall$60largest put OI
IV3042.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $65

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$70+7.0%3d
Fri, Sep 18$65-0.7%31d
Fri, Nov 20$65-0.7%94d
Fri, Feb 19$65-0.7%185d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot65606774818895$1M$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 — 65 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot65607080901212
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KNF open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 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, Sep 18

spot656070809011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot60677481889587%29%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 40.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 6560708090+$2K$2K
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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.79-0.04600.03360.06-0.04-0.22
0.58-0.05650.04900.07-0.05-0.43
0.36-0.05700.04280.07-0.05-0.66
0.23-0.05750.03000.06-0.05-0.79
0.16-0.04800.02100.05-0.04-0.87
0.11-0.04850.01520.04-0.04-0.91
0.09-0.04900.01150.03-0.04-0.94
0.07-0.03950.00890.03-0.03-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot4565851051251600
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

spot35557595115135166166
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 570 call contracts, 190 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: KNF workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk