Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 1:11 AM ET

KTOS max pain

Spot (delayed)$40.54
Max pain · Fri, Oct 30$41.5+2.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.83±4.5% by Fri, Oct 30
Put/Call OI0.363K puts / 7K calls
Call wall$50largest call OI
Put wall$39largest put OI
IV3067.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$194Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $42

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 30$41.5+2.4%3d
Fri, Nov 6$44+8.5%10d
Fri, Nov 13$45+11.0%17d
Fri, Nov 20$42+3.6%24d
Fri, Nov 27$42+3.6%31d
Fri, Dec 4$47+15.9%38d
Fri, Dec 18$40-1.3%52d
Fri, Jan 15$47.5+17.2%80d
Fri, Feb 19$50+23.3%115d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot41.5324047556270$16M$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 — 41.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot41.53236.540.544.549572K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KTOS open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 30.

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, Oct 30

spot41.53236.540.544.54957381381
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot323843495460215%39%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 53.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spotflip 423236.540.544.54957+$157K−$157K
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, Oct 30

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.89-0.07370.06320.01-0.07-0.11
0.86-0.0837.50.07780.01-0.08-0.14
0.82-0.09380.09380.01-0.09-0.18
0.77-0.1138.50.11030.01-0.11-0.23
0.71-0.12390.12600.01-0.12-0.29
0.65-0.1339.50.13920.02-0.13-0.36
0.57-0.14400.14830.02-0.14-0.43
0.50-0.1440.50.15200.02-0.14-0.50
0.42-0.14410.14970.02-0.14-0.58
0.35-0.1341.50.14190.02-0.13-0.65
0.29-0.12420.12970.01-0.11-0.71
0.23-0.1042.50.11480.01-0.10-0.77
0.18-0.09430.09870.01-0.09-0.82
0.14-0.0743.50.08300.01-0.07-0.86
0.11-0.06440.06850.01-0.06-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 46 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot29.536.540.544.548.5562K0
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

spot22.5394557.58011517K17K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 137K call contracts, 42K 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: KTOS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk