Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 2, 3:34 AM ET

HEI max pain

Spot (delayed)$356.36
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$330-7.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$43.05±12.1% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.4642 puts / 92 calls
Call wall$430largest call OI
Put wall$280largest put OI
IV3035.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$31Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $430

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$330-7.4%20d
Fri, Sep 18$330-7.4%48d
Fri, Nov 20$320-10.2%111d
Fri, Jan 15$290-18.6%167d
Fri, Feb 19$370+3.8%202d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot330240282324366408450$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 — 330 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot3302402703103504306565
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HEI open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 18.

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 18

spot33024027031035043022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot24028232436640845064%39%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 41.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 430240270310350430+$31K$31K
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 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.072700.00160.14-0.07-0.05
0.93-0.082800.00210.17-0.08-0.07
0.87-0.123000.00350.27-0.12-0.13
0.83-0.143100.00430.33-0.14-0.17
0.79-0.173200.00520.38-0.17-0.21
0.73-0.183300.00600.43-0.19-0.27
0.59-0.213500.00730.51-0.21-0.41
0.52-0.213600.00760.52-0.22-0.49
0.44-0.213700.00760.52-0.21-0.56
0.12-0.114300.00380.27-0.12-0.90
0.10-0.094400.00320.22-0.10-0.92
0.07-0.074500.00260.19-0.09-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 15 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1852403003604204807740
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

spot155190250320390460787787
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 2K 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: HEI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk