Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 8, 8:19 PM ET

KO max pain

Spot (delayed)$95.77
⊙
EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 8, 8:19 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
Open the source document →
Max pain · Fri, May 21$90
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceMax pain from Cboe open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 8, 8:19 PM ET
HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2027-05-21 expiration, over 20 strikes carrying 10,271 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
Open the source document →
-6.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$12.68
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 8, 8:19 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2027-05-21 expiration = 12.68 USD, 13.2% of 95.77 spot.
Open the source document →
±13.2% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI1.48
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 8, 8:19 PM ET
How6,124 put contracts / 4,147 call contracts = 1.48 for the 2027-05-21 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
Open the source document →
6K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$100
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 8, 8:19 PM ET
How100.00 for the 2027-05-21 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
Open the source document →
largest call OI
Put wall$90
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 8, 8:19 PM ET
How90.00 for the 2027-05-21 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
Open the source document →
largest put OI
IV3020.3%
⊙
EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 8, 8:19 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
Open the source document →
30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$56K
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 8, 8:19 PM ET
HowOver every strike with open interest for the 2027-05-21 expiration: (call gamma × call OI minus put gamma × put OI) × 100 × spot² × 1%, summed. Calls count as positive and puts as negative, a convention about who holds the other side, not a measurement.
Open the source document →
per 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Nov 13$94-1.8%5d
Fri, Nov 20$89-7.1%12d
Fri, Nov 27$93-2.9%19d
Fri, Dec 4$94-1.8%26d
Fri, Dec 11$97+1.3%33d
Fri, Dec 18$85-11.2%40d
Fri, Jan 15$80-16.5%68d
Fri, Feb 19$87.5-8.6%103d
Fri, Mar 19$82.5-13.9%131d
Fri, May 21$90-6.0%194d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot90607488102116130$14M$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 — 90 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot906077.587.597.51152K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KO open contracts per strike for Fri, May 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, May 21

spot906077.58592.5100115568568
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot60748810211613033%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 22.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21

spot6077.587.597.5115+$305K−$305K
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, May 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.90-0.0177.50.01000.13-0.01-0.11
0.87-0.01800.01210.15-0.01-0.14
0.83-0.0182.50.01450.17-0.01-0.17
0.79-0.01850.01700.20-0.01-0.21
0.75-0.0187.50.01940.22-0.01-0.26
0.69-0.01900.02170.24-0.01-0.31
0.64-0.0192.50.02360.26-0.02-0.37
0.58-0.01950.02500.27-0.02-0.44
0.52-0.0197.50.02570.28-0.02-0.50
0.45-0.011000.02570.27-0.02-0.57
0.34-0.011050.02390.25-0.01-0.70
0.24-0.011100.02040.21-0.01-0.81
0.16-0.011150.01600.17-0.01-0.91
0.10-0.011200.01190.13-0.01-0.96
0.07-0.011250.00850.10-0.00-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 20 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot457682.5899610331K0
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

spot32.5607887.59710754K54K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 405K call contracts, 348K 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.

Max pain, walls and gamma print only when an expiration holds at least 100 open contracts across 5 strikes, and max pain also needs to stay within 5% of spot when its single heaviest strike is removed. Below that the expiration reads as thin rather than printing a level one trade could move.

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: KO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk