Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 3:03 PM ET

MKC max pain

Spot (delayed)$55.68
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$55-1.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.7±17.4% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.223K puts / 13K calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3029.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.1Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $60

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Aug 21$50-10.2%3d
Fri, Sep 18$50-10.2%31d
Fri, Dec 18$55-1.2%122d
Fri, Jan 15$55-1.2%150d
Fri, Mar 19$50-10.2%213d
Thu, Jun 17$50-10.2%303d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot5530496887106125$83M$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 — 55 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot553050709011011K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MKC 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

spot55305070901101010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot3049688710612561%30%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 6030507090110+$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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99300.00180.01-0.00-0.02
0.97-0.00350.00480.02-0.01-0.04
0.93-0.01400.01030.05-0.01-0.09
0.85-0.01450.01820.08-0.01-0.16
0.73-0.01500.02700.11-0.01-0.28
0.57-0.01550.03300.14-0.01-0.44
0.41-0.01600.03300.14-0.01-0.60
0.28-0.01650.02810.12-0.01-0.73
0.19-0.01700.02170.10-0.01-0.82
0.13-0.01750.01610.07-0.01-0.88
0.09-0.01800.01180.06-0.00-0.92
0.06-0.01850.00880.04-0.00-0.95
0.05-0.00900.00660.03-0.00-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 19 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot304560759010K0
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

spot2545658510512514K14K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 39K call contracts, 20K 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: MKC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk