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

KTOS max pain

Spot (delayed)$40.54
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$42+3.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.33±15.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.1310K puts / 73K calls
Call wall$43largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3067.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4.0Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $42

Event risk before this expiration: 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, 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

spot4223456890113135$613M$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 — 42 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot4222.535.540.545.557.59012K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KTOS 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

spot4222.535.540.545.557.590293293
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot23456890113135207%55%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 75.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 4222.535.540.545.557.590+$1.1M−$1.1M
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
0.71-0.05370.04480.04-0.05-0.28
0.69-0.0537.50.04670.04-0.05-0.31
0.67-0.05380.04840.04-0.05-0.33
0.64-0.0638.50.04990.04-0.06-0.36
0.61-0.06390.05120.04-0.06-0.39
0.59-0.0639.50.05220.04-0.06-0.41
0.56-0.06400.05300.04-0.06-0.44
0.53-0.0640.50.05350.04-0.06-0.47
0.51-0.06410.05380.04-0.06-0.49
0.48-0.0641.50.05380.04-0.06-0.52
0.46-0.06420.05350.04-0.06-0.54
0.43-0.0642.50.05300.04-0.06-0.57
0.41-0.06430.05230.04-0.06-0.59
0.38-0.0643.50.05140.04-0.06-0.62
0.36-0.06440.05030.04-0.06-0.64

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 60 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