Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 17, 1:53 AM ET

HBM max pain

Spot (delayed)$23.62
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$17.5-25.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.85±50.2% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.2828 puts / 100 calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$17.5largest put OI
IV3068.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $17.5

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$25+5.8%33d
Fri, Dec 18$20-15.3%61d
Fri, Jan 15$22.5-4.7%89d
Fri, Apr 16$25+5.8%180d
Fri, Jan 21$17.5-25.9%460d
Fri, Jan 19$20-15.3%824d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot17.5152025303540$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 — 17.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot17.5152025356262
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HBM open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 21.

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 21

spot17.51520253522
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot15202530354060%54%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 57.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spotflip 17.515202535+$830−$830
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 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.88-0.00150.01360.06-0.00-0.14
0.83-0.0017.50.01750.07-0.00-0.20
0.77-0.00200.02080.08-0.01-0.26
0.71-0.0122.50.02330.09-0.01-0.33
0.65-0.01250.02490.10-0.01-0.39
0.54-0.01300.02610.11-0.01-0.51
0.45-0.01350.02550.11-0.01-0.62
0.38-0.01400.02400.10-0.01-0.71

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

spot7.512.517.522.530405K0
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

spot7.512.517.522.530406K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 19K 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