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

KWR max pain

Spot (delayed)$154
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$155+0.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$19.25±12.5% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.7846 puts / 59 calls
Call wall$155largest call OI
Put wall$160largest put OI
IV3034.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$9Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $155

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$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

spot15580103126149172195$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 — 155 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot155801051251601802525
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KWR open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot1558010512516018011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot80103126149172195109%28%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 32.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 15580105125160180+$11K−$11K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.021050.00250.08-0.03-0.05
0.94-0.031100.00320.09-0.03-0.06
0.92-0.031150.00390.11-0.03-0.08
0.90-0.031200.00490.13-0.04-0.10
0.88-0.041250.00610.15-0.04-0.12
0.77-0.051400.01110.23-0.05-0.24
0.64-0.061500.01500.27-0.06-0.37
0.56-0.061550.01640.29-0.06-0.45
0.48-0.061600.01710.29-0.06-0.54
0.40-0.051650.01680.28-0.06-0.62
0.32-0.051700.01560.26-0.05-0.70
0.26-0.051750.01390.24-0.05-0.77
0.21-0.041800.01200.21-0.04-0.82
0.17-0.041850.01030.19-0.04-0.87
0.14-0.031900.00870.16-0.04-0.90

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 20 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