Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 11:00 AM ET

HHH max pain

Spot (delayed)$68.2
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$65-4.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.4±6.5% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI8.701K puts / 165 calls
Call wall$70largest call OI
Put wall$65largest put OI
IV3025.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$265Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $55

Event risk before this expiration: 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$70+2.6%6d
Fri, Sep 18$65-4.7%34d
Fri, Oct 16$65-4.7%62d
Fri, Dec 18$60-12.0%125d
Fri, Jan 15$65-4.7%153d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot65404958677685$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 — 65 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot6540607080844844
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HHH 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

spot65406070804040
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot60657075808550%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 5540607080+$221K$221K
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
0.98-0.00400.00250.01-0.01-0.02
0.93-0.01550.01330.03-0.02-0.07
0.86-0.02600.02690.05-0.02-0.13
0.70-0.03650.05740.07-0.03-0.30
0.38-0.03700.06620.08-0.03-0.63
0.19-0.03750.03760.06-0.03-0.82
0.11-0.02800.02200.04-0.02-0.90
0.08-0.02850.01420.03-0.01-0.93

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot355570851102K0
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

spot355575951154K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K call contracts, 6K 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: HHH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk