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

HEI max pain

Spot (delayed)$356.36
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$370+3.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$77.35±21.7% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI3.02199 puts / 66 calls
Call wall$500largest call OI
Put wall$370largest put OI
IV3035.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$75Kper 1% move

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 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — 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

spot370210276342408474540$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 — 370 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot370210260330380440520135135
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HEI open contracts per strike for Fri, Feb 19.

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, Feb 19

spot37021026033038044052022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot21027634240847454042%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot210260330380440520+$73K$73K
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, Feb 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.92-0.032500.00140.39-0.04-0.08
0.90-0.042600.00160.46-0.04-0.10
0.88-0.052700.00190.53-0.05-0.12
0.80-0.073000.00280.75-0.07-0.21
0.76-0.073100.00310.82-0.08-0.24
0.69-0.083300.00360.94-0.09-0.32
0.65-0.093400.00380.98-0.09-0.35
0.61-0.093500.00391.02-0.10-0.40
0.53-0.093700.00411.06-0.10-0.48
0.49-0.093800.00421.06-0.10-0.52
0.46-0.093900.00421.05-0.10-0.57
0.42-0.094000.00411.04-0.10-0.61
0.31-0.084300.00380.94-0.09-0.73
0.28-0.084400.00360.90-0.09-0.76
0.25-0.074500.00340.85-0.08-0.80

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 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