Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 1:49 AM ET

HIG max pain

Spot (delayed)$131.19
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$125-4.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.95±7.6% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.182K puts / 9K calls
Call wall$160largest call OI
Put wall$125largest put OI
IV3022.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$813Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $150

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Oct 16$135+2.9%2d
Fri, Nov 20$130-0.9%37d
Fri, Dec 18$125-4.7%65d
Fri, Mar 19$120-8.5%156d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12585103121139157175$17M$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 — 125 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot125851051201351501657K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HIG open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 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, Dec 18

spot125851051201351501652121
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot8510312113915717571%20%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 22.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 15085105120135150165+$710K−$710K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.00900.00170.02-0.01-0.02
0.96-0.011000.00370.04-0.01-0.04
0.95-0.011050.00550.06-0.02-0.06
0.92-0.021100.00830.08-0.02-0.09
0.89-0.021150.01270.10-0.03-0.13
0.82-0.031200.01910.14-0.03-0.19
0.72-0.031250.02720.18-0.03-0.30
0.57-0.041300.03420.21-0.04-0.45
0.40-0.031350.03450.21-0.03-0.62
0.25-0.031400.02780.18-0.03-0.76
0.15-0.021450.01950.13-0.02-0.85
0.09-0.021500.01300.09-0.01-0.91
0.06-0.011550.00870.07-0.01-0.94
0.04-0.011600.00590.05-0.01-0.96
0.03-0.011650.00400.04-0.00-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 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

spot901101251401551707K0
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

spot801001201401601807K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 13K call contracts, 3K 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: HIG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk