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

KNX max pain

Spot (delayed)$72.42
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$55-24.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$26.8±37.0% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.41900 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$50largest call OI
Put wall$85largest put OI
IV3034.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$39Kper 1% move

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$65-10.2%4d
Fri, Sep 18$70-3.3%32d
Fri, Nov 20$75+3.6%95d
Fri, Dec 18$50-31.0%123d
Fri, Jan 15$60-17.1%151d
Fri, Feb 19$75+3.6%186d
Fri, Jan 21$55-24.1%522d
Fri, Dec 15$105+45.0%851d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot5520406080100120$13M$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 — 55 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot552037.552.56580651651
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KNX open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 21.

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 21

spot552037.552.5658011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot3048668410212055%36%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot2037.552.56580+$21K$21K
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 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.82-0.01550.00750.23-0.01-0.19
0.80-0.0157.50.00810.24-0.01-0.21
0.77-0.01600.00880.26-0.01-0.24
0.74-0.0162.50.00940.28-0.01-0.27
0.72-0.01650.00990.29-0.01-0.30
0.69-0.0167.50.01040.30-0.01-0.33
0.66-0.01700.01090.31-0.01-0.35
0.64-0.0172.50.01130.32-0.01-0.39
0.61-0.01750.01160.33-0.01-0.42
0.55-0.01800.01210.34-0.01-0.48
0.53-0.0182.50.01230.34-0.01-0.51
0.50-0.01850.01240.34-0.01-0.54
0.27-0.011100.01060.28-0.01-0.84
0.20-0.011200.00920.24-0.01-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 25 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot305062.57587.51103K0
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

spot20355065801005K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 23K call contracts, 17K 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: KNX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk