Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 6, 3:50 AM ET

HBM max pain

Spot (delayed)$26.2
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$25-4.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.95±22.7% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.271K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$35largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3066.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$92Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $12.5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · 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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$20-23.7%15d
Fri, Sep 18$22.5-14.1%43d
Fri, Oct 16$25-4.6%71d
Fri, Nov 20$25-4.6%106d
Fri, Jan 15$17.5-33.2%162d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2581523303845$6M$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 — 25 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot257.512.517.522.530402K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HBM open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 16.

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, Oct 16

spot257.512.517.522.530403636
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot81523303845151%61%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 65.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 12.57.512.517.522.53040+$45K$45K
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, Oct 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.007.50.00070.00-0.00-0.00
1.00100.00160.00-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.0012.50.00370.00-0.00-0.01
0.97-0.00150.00830.01-0.00-0.03
0.93-0.0117.50.01710.02-0.01-0.07
0.86-0.01200.02980.03-0.01-0.14
0.75-0.0222.50.04270.04-0.02-0.25
0.62-0.02250.05120.04-0.02-0.38
0.38-0.02300.05020.04-0.02-0.63
0.21-0.01350.03690.03-0.01-0.81
0.11-0.01400.02370.02-0.01-0.92
0.06-0.01450.01420.01-0.01-0.98

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

spot7.515202535454K0
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

spot7.512.517.522.530407K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 26K call contracts, 9K 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: HBM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk