Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 7, 3:40 AM ET

KVUE max pain

Spot (delayed)$19.04
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$18-5.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.12±5.9% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.2612K puts / 47K calls
Call wall$27largest call OI
Put wall$18largest put OI
IV3021.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.3Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $18

Event risk before this expiration: CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 7$19-0.2%today
Fri, Aug 14$19-0.2%7d
Fri, Aug 21$19-0.2%14d
Fri, Aug 28$17.5-8.1%21d
Fri, Sep 4$18-5.5%28d
Fri, Sep 11$18-5.5%35d
Fri, Sep 18$18-5.5%42d
Fri, Nov 20$18-5.5%105d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1881319243035$56M$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 — 18 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot188151821273512K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KVUE open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 18.

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, Sep 18

spot1881518212735422422
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot13172226313578%20%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 21.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 1881518212735+$720K$720K
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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.0080.00220.00-0.00-0.01
1.00100.00020.00-0.00-0.01
1.00130.00540.00-0.00-0.03
0.98-0.00150.03030.00-0.00-0.05
0.96-0.00160.06690.01-0.00-0.08
0.90-0.01170.13580.01-0.01-0.14
0.77-0.01180.22780.02-0.01-0.25
0.52-0.01190.29280.03-0.01-0.49
0.27-0.01200.22920.02-0.01-0.76
0.14-0.00210.13440.01-0.00-0.89
0.09-0.00220.08140.01-0.00-0.95
0.03-0.00250.02620.01-0.99
0.02-0.00270.01520.00-0.99
0.01-0.00300.00790.00-1.00
0.01-0.00320.00560.00-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot51315.51820.5236K0
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

spot31316.52023.53234K34K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 144K call contracts, 56K 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: KVUE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk