Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 3:03 AM ET

KRYS max pain

Spot (delayed)$311.5
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$340+9.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$69.15±22.2% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI5.681K puts / 179 calls
Call wall$310largest call OI
Put wall$300largest put OI
IV3048.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$372Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $200

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Nov 20$320+2.7%25d
Fri, Dec 18$340+9.1%53d
Fri, Feb 19$340+9.1%116d
Fri, Mar 19$300-3.7%144d
Fri, May 21$300-3.7%207d
Thu, Jun 17$300-3.7%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot340175248321394467540$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 — 340 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot340175250310370430490468468
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KRYS 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

spot3401752503103704304901010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot17524832139446754066%44%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 49.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 200175260320380440500+$199K−$199K
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
0.85-0.092400.00240.41-0.09-0.15
0.82-0.102500.00280.46-0.10-0.18
0.79-0.112600.00310.51-0.11-0.21
0.75-0.122700.00350.56-0.12-0.25
0.71-0.132800.00380.61-0.13-0.29
0.67-0.142900.00410.64-0.14-0.33
0.63-0.143000.00430.67-0.14-0.38
0.58-0.143100.00450.69-0.15-0.42
0.54-0.143200.00460.71-0.15-0.47
0.49-0.143300.00460.71-0.15-0.52
0.45-0.143400.00460.70-0.15-0.56
0.41-0.143500.00460.69-0.14-0.61
0.36-0.133600.00450.67-0.14-0.65
0.32-0.123700.00430.64-0.13-0.69
0.28-0.123800.00410.60-0.13-0.73

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 34 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1302303003704405208220
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

spot1301702203003804601K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 3K 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 · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk