Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 1:41 AM ET

HCM max pain

Spot (delayed)$12.2
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$12.5+2.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.6±21.3% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI1.0040 puts / 40 calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$12.5largest put OI
IV30117.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$190per 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$12.5+2.5%5d
Fri, Nov 20$12.5+2.5%96d
Fri, Feb 19$10-18.0%187d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12.55913172125$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 — 12.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot12.551015202222
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HCM open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 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, Aug 21

spot12.5510152011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot5913172125748%177%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 365.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 7.557.512.5152025+$472$472
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, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.0150.00570.00-0.01-0.01
0.97-0.017.50.02010.00-0.01-0.03
0.90-0.03100.08650.00-0.03-0.11
0.46-0.0512.50.24180.01-0.05-0.54
0.17-0.04150.10690.00-0.04-0.84
0.09-0.0317.50.05320.00-0.03-0.92
0.05-0.02200.03120.00-0.02-0.95
0.03-0.01250.01420.00-0.01-0.98

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

spot7.512.517.525260
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5304949
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 74 call contracts, 78 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: HCM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk