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

HG max pain

Spot (delayed)$34.85
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$3-91.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.93±14.1% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.14303 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$38largest put OI
Net GEX+$43Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: 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, 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

spot31918273645$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 — 3 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot30.5815.5233038458458
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HG open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot30.5815.523303811
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot16212733394597%17%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot310.518253340+$19K$19K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.94-0.01180.00750.02-0.01-0.06
0.92-0.0120.50.01030.03-0.01-0.08
0.89-0.01230.01420.04-0.01-0.10
0.87-0.01250.01840.04-0.01-0.13
0.81-0.01280.02760.05-0.01-0.18
0.76-0.01300.03660.06-0.01-0.23
0.64-0.01330.05550.07-0.01-0.35
0.51-0.01350.06660.08-0.01-0.47
0.33-0.01380.05980.07-0.01-0.66
0.26-0.01400.04850.07-0.01-0.73
0.17-0.01450.02980.05-0.01-0.82

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

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