Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 3:58 PM ET

KNF max pain

Spot (delayed)$65.7
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$65-1.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$17.05±26.0% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.7743 puts / 56 calls
Call wall$95largest call OI
Put wall$65largest put OI
IV3044.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$29per 1% move · flip ≈ $50

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Aug 21$75+14.2%4d
Fri, Sep 18$65-1.1%32d
Fri, Nov 20$65-1.1%95d
Fri, Feb 19$65-1.1%186d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot6540587694112130$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, Feb 19

spot65406080901101202121
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KNF open contracts per strike for Fri, Feb 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, Feb 19

spot654060809011012066
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot4058769411213065%43%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 45.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 5040608090110120+$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, Feb 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.93-0.01400.00500.06-0.01-0.07
0.85-0.01500.01010.11-0.01-0.16
0.70-0.02600.01640.16-0.02-0.31
0.61-0.02650.01850.18-0.02-0.40
0.36-0.02800.01790.18-0.02-0.68
0.29-0.02850.01620.16-0.02-0.75
0.24-0.02900.01440.15-0.02-0.81
0.20-0.02950.01270.13-0.02-0.85
0.12-0.011100.00850.10-0.01-0.96
0.10-0.011150.00740.08-0.01-0.98
0.09-0.011200.00650.08-0.01-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 12 are in the CSV. 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: 563 call contracts, 221 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