Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 3:20 AM ET

KRYS max pain

Spot (delayed)$332.27
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$300-9.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$59.75±18.0% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.53217 puts / 413 calls
Call wall$350largest call OI
Put wall$340largest put OI
IV3035.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$125Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $280

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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$320-3.7%5d
Fri, Sep 18$310-6.7%33d
Fri, Nov 20$300-9.7%96d
Fri, Feb 19$340+2.3%187d
Fri, Mar 19$300-9.7%215d
Thu, Jun 17$300-9.7%305d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot300130216302388474560$9M$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 — 300 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot3001301902603304005208888
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KRYS open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot30013019026033040052011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot130216302388474560100%43%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 43.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 280130190260330400520+$51K$51K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.88-0.082600.00250.34-0.08-0.12
0.84-0.092700.00300.41-0.10-0.15
0.81-0.112800.00340.47-0.11-0.19
0.77-0.122900.00390.53-0.12-0.23
0.72-0.133000.00430.58-0.13-0.28
0.67-0.143100.00470.62-0.14-0.33
0.62-0.153200.00500.65-0.15-0.38
0.57-0.153300.00520.67-0.15-0.43
0.52-0.153400.00530.68-0.16-0.48
0.47-0.153500.00530.68-0.16-0.54
0.42-0.153600.00520.67-0.15-0.59
0.38-0.153700.00500.65-0.15-0.63
0.33-0.143800.00480.62-0.14-0.68
0.29-0.133900.00450.59-0.14-0.72
0.25-0.124000.00420.55-0.13-0.77

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 38 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1301952603304004709030
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

spot1251702303204105001K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K call contracts, 4K 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: KRYS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk