Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 13, 4:38 AM ET

HG max pain

Spot (delayed)$34.85
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$35+0.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.26±6.5% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.337 puts / 21 calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
Net GEX+$651per 1% move · flip ≈ $40

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Sep 18$35+0.4%5d
Fri, Oct 16$15.5-55.5%33d
Fri, Jan 15$3-91.4%124d
Fri, Apr 16$30-13.9%215d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Open interest by strike · 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

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot0.5815.52330386320
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

spot0.510.518233343632632
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 365 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: HG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk