Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 4:07 PM ET

MKC max pain

Spot (delayed)$44.97
Max pain · Thu, Jun 17$50+11.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.95±19.9% by Thu, Jun 17
Put/Call OI0.54706 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$65largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3029.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$25Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $55

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, Oct 16$45+0.1%2d
Fri, Nov 20$50+11.2%37d
Fri, Dec 18$50+11.2%65d
Fri, Jan 15$50+11.2%93d
Fri, Mar 19$50+11.2%156d
Thu, Jun 17$50+11.2%246d
Fri, Sep 17$55+22.3%338d
Fri, Jan 21$50+11.2%464d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot50304050607080$3M$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 — 50 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot50304050607080505505
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MKC open contracts per strike for Thu, Jun 17.

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 · Thu, Jun 17

spot5030405060708022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot30405060708037%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 31.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spotflip 55304050607080+$17K−$17K
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 · Thu, Jun 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.00300.00870.03-0.00-0.06
0.87-0.00350.01920.07-0.01-0.14
0.73-0.01400.02960.12-0.01-0.28
0.56-0.01450.03570.14-0.01-0.45
0.39-0.01500.03460.14-0.01-0.62
0.26-0.01550.02880.12-0.01-0.75
0.17-0.01600.02200.09-0.00-0.85
0.11-0.00650.01610.07-0.00-0.91
0.08-0.00700.01170.050.00-0.95
0.05-0.00750.00850.04-0.01-0.99
0.04-0.00800.00620.03-0.01-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot355065801005K0
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

spot22.54060801001208K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 26K call contracts, 19K 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