Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 21, 10:02 AM ET

HD max pain

Spot (delayed)$301.55
Max pain · Fri, Oct 23$310+2.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$18.73±6.2% by Fri, Oct 23
Put/Call OI0.56547 puts / 982 calls
Call wall$340largest call OI
Put wall$275largest put OI
IV3025.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$262Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $325
Earnings · expectedTue, Nov 17usually before the open

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Sep 25$307.5+2.0%4d
Fri, Oct 2$310+2.8%11d
Fri, Oct 9$315+4.5%18d
Fri, Oct 16$320+6.1%25d
Fri, Oct 23$310+2.8%32d
Fri, Oct 30$315+4.5%39d
Fri, Nov 20$325+7.8%60d← 1st expiry after earnings (Tue, Nov 17)
Fri, Dec 18$340+12.8%88d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot310235264293322351380$5M$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 — 310 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 23

spot310235270295320345370239239
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HD open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 23.

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 23

spot3102352702953203453708080
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 23

spot23526429332235138039%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 25.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 23

spotflip 325235270295320345370+$227K$227K
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 23

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.94-0.042650.00460.11-0.04-0.06
0.92-0.052700.00630.15-0.06-0.09
0.88-0.072750.00830.19-0.07-0.12
0.83-0.092800.01050.24-0.09-0.17
0.77-0.102850.01270.28-0.10-0.23
0.70-0.122900.01480.32-0.12-0.30
0.63-0.132950.01640.35-0.13-0.38
0.54-0.133000.01730.37-0.14-0.47
0.46-0.133050.01730.37-0.14-0.56
0.37-0.123100.01660.35-0.13-0.65
0.29-0.113150.01520.32-0.12-0.73
0.23-0.103200.01330.28-0.10-0.80
0.17-0.083250.01120.24-0.09-0.86
0.12-0.073300.00900.19-0.07-0.91
0.09-0.053350.00700.15-0.06-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 28 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot220295317.53453904359210
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

spot17026030535541050011K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 112K call contracts, 90K 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