Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 12:02 AM ET

KOF max pain

Spot (delayed)$108.94
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$115+5.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.2±14.0% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI1.6365 puts / 40 calls
Call wall$125largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3021.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$6Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $95

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$105-3.6%6d
Fri, Sep 18$100-8.2%34d
Fri, Nov 20$105-3.6%97d
Fri, Feb 19$115+5.6%188d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1159097104111118125$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 — 115 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot115901001101204040
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KOF 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

spot115901001101201010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot909710411111812528%22%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 24.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 9590100110120+$8K$8K
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
0.85-0.02900.01080.18-0.02-0.17
0.79-0.02950.01370.22-0.02-0.22
0.72-0.021000.01690.26-0.02-0.30
0.63-0.021050.01980.29-0.02-0.39
0.53-0.021100.02150.31-0.02-0.50
0.42-0.021150.02140.30-0.02-0.61
0.33-0.021200.01950.28-0.02-0.70
0.26-0.021250.01690.25-0.02-0.77

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

spot60901001101201301990
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

spot507090110130150215215
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 737 call contracts, 319 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: KOF workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk