Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 16, 3:20 AM ET

KNSL max pain

Spot (delayed)$379.19
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$340-10.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$72±19.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.31137 puts / 441 calls
Call wall$470largest call OI
Put wall$300largest put OI
IV3031.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$195Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $340

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$360-5.1%4d
Fri, Sep 18$360-5.1%32d
Fri, Oct 16$310-18.2%60d
Fri, Jan 15$340-10.3%151d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot340155232309386463540$5M$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 — 340 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot340155210270330390450109109
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KNSL open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot34015521027033039045088
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot15523230938646354090%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 340155210270330390450+$56K$56K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.82-0.093100.00250.65-0.09-0.18
0.79-0.093200.00280.71-0.10-0.21
0.76-0.103300.00310.76-0.10-0.24
0.73-0.103400.00340.82-0.11-0.28
0.69-0.113500.00360.86-0.11-0.31
0.65-0.113600.00390.91-0.12-0.35
0.61-0.113700.00410.94-0.12-0.40
0.57-0.113800.00430.96-0.12-0.44
0.52-0.113900.00450.98-0.12-0.49
0.48-0.114000.00450.98-0.12-0.53
0.43-0.114100.00460.97-0.11-0.58
0.39-0.104200.00450.94-0.11-0.63
0.35-0.104300.00440.91-0.10-0.67
0.31-0.094400.00420.86-0.10-0.72
0.27-0.094500.00400.81-0.09-0.76

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 36 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2303103604104801K0
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

spot1501902603404205001K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 2K 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: KNSL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk