Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 10:57 AM ET

KWR max pain

Spot (delayed)$154
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$160+3.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$12.85±8.3% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI2.23116 puts / 52 calls
Call wall$170largest call OI
Put wall$145largest put OI
IV3034.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$30Kper 1% move

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, Nov 20$160+3.9%24d
Fri, Dec 18$175+13.6%52d
Fri, Jan 15$155+0.6%80d
Fri, Apr 16$125-18.8%171d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot16090114138162186210$1M$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 — 160 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot160901301451601751957474
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KWR 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

spot1609013014516017519511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot90114138162186210145%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot90130145160175195+$31K−$31K
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
0.95-0.071100.00300.04-0.08-0.05
0.93-0.081150.00380.05-0.08-0.07
0.88-0.101300.00780.08-0.10-0.12
0.85-0.101350.01020.10-0.11-0.15
0.81-0.111400.01330.11-0.11-0.20
0.74-0.121450.01740.13-0.12-0.26
0.66-0.121500.02240.15-0.12-0.34
0.54-0.121550.02670.16-0.12-0.47
0.40-0.111600.02710.16-0.11-0.60
0.29-0.101650.02310.14-0.10-0.72
0.21-0.091700.01820.12-0.09-0.80
0.16-0.081750.01410.10-0.08-0.85
0.10-0.071850.00890.07-0.07-0.91
0.09-0.071900.00730.06-0.07-0.93
0.07-0.061950.00600.06-0.06-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot140160175190210290
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

spot80105130155180210221221
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 450 call contracts, 169 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: KWR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk