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

KRYS max pain

Spot (delayed)$311.5
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$300-3.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$79.6±25.6% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI3.10922 puts / 297 calls
Call wall$480largest call OI
Put wall$290largest put OI
IV3048.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$247Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $270

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

spot300190264338412486560$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, Mar 19

spot300190270320370460520850850
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KRYS open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 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, Mar 19

spot30019027032037046052011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot19026433841248656060%45%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 50.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 270190270320370460520+$297K−$297K
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.86-0.082300.00200.44-0.08-0.14
0.81-0.102500.00260.54-0.10-0.20
0.78-0.112600.00280.59-0.11-0.23
0.74-0.122700.00310.64-0.12-0.26
0.71-0.122800.00330.68-0.12-0.30
0.67-0.132900.00350.72-0.13-0.34
0.63-0.133000.00370.75-0.13-0.38
0.59-0.133100.00390.77-0.14-0.41
0.55-0.133200.00400.78-0.14-0.46
0.51-0.133300.00400.79-0.14-0.50
0.48-0.133400.00400.79-0.14-0.54
0.44-0.133500.00400.78-0.14-0.58
0.40-0.133600.00400.76-0.13-0.62
0.37-0.123700.00390.74-0.13-0.65
0.33-0.123800.00380.72-0.13-0.69

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 28 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