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

HD max pain

Spot (delayed)$349.31
Max pain · Fri, Sep 4$340-2.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$26.48±7.6% by Fri, Sep 4
Put/Call OI0.82659 puts / 807 calls
Call wall$350largest call OI
Put wall$270largest put OI
IV3032.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$760Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $350
Earnings · expectedTue, Aug 18usually before the open

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 — 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

spot340235269303337371405$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 — 340 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot340235270300330360390310310
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HD open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 4.

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, Sep 4

spot340235270300330360390224224
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot23526930333737140581%19%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 32.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spotflip 350235270300330360390+$477K$477K
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, Sep 4

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.89-0.103150.00600.18-0.12-0.13
0.85-0.123200.00720.22-0.14-0.17
0.81-0.143250.00850.26-0.16-0.21
0.76-0.173300.00970.30-0.18-0.26
0.71-0.183350.01080.33-0.20-0.32
0.65-0.203400.01170.36-0.21-0.38
0.59-0.213450.01230.38-0.21-0.44
0.53-0.223500.01260.39-0.22-0.50
0.47-0.223550.01260.39-0.21-0.56
0.41-0.213600.01230.38-0.20-0.62
0.35-0.203650.01170.36-0.19-0.68
0.29-0.193700.01090.34-0.17-0.73
0.24-0.173750.00990.31-0.15-0.77
0.20-0.153800.00890.27-0.13-0.81
0.16-0.143850.00780.24-0.11-0.85

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 34 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