Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 7, 12:46 AM ET

HD max pain

Spot (delayed)$349.31
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$340-2.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$20.53±5.9% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.7217K puts / 24K calls
Call wall$360largest call OI
Put wall$335largest put OI
IV3032.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$13.0Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $360
Earnings · expectedTue, Aug 18usually before the open

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

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 7$337.5-3.4%1d
Fri, Aug 14$345-1.2%8d
Fri, Aug 21$340-2.7%15d← 1st expiry after earnings (Tue, Aug 18)
Fri, Aug 28$335-4.1%22d
Fri, Sep 4$340-2.7%29d
Fri, Sep 11$330-5.5%36d
Fri, Sep 18$340-2.7%43d
Fri, Oct 16$335-4.1%71d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot340200264328392456520$349M$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 — 340 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot340200280325352.53854352K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HD 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

spot340200280325352.5385435287287
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot200264328392456520145%29%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 360240295332.5360400450+$2.9M$2.9M
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
0.79-0.243300.01070.20-0.25-0.21
0.76-0.27332.50.01160.22-0.27-0.24
0.73-0.283350.01240.23-0.29-0.27
0.70-0.30337.50.01320.25-0.31-0.30
0.67-0.323400.01380.26-0.32-0.34
0.63-0.33342.50.01440.27-0.33-0.37
0.59-0.343450.01480.28-0.34-0.41
0.52-0.353500.01530.28-0.35-0.49
0.48-0.35352.50.01530.28-0.35-0.52
0.44-0.343550.01520.28-0.34-0.56
0.41-0.34357.50.01490.28-0.34-0.60
0.37-0.333600.01450.27-0.33-0.64
0.34-0.32362.50.01400.26-0.31-0.67
0.30-0.303650.01340.25-0.30-0.70
0.27-0.28367.50.01270.24-0.28-0.74

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 60 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot200265322.5352.53954604K0
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

spot170265322.535541052013K13K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 135K call contracts, 110K 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: HD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk