Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 27, 2:03 AM ET

HLT max pain

Spot (delayed)$332.56
Max pain · Fri, Aug 28$325-2.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.18±1.6% by Fri, Aug 28
Put/Call OI0.13136 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$332.5largest call OI
Put wall$325largest put OI
IV3022.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$6.2Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $330

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 28$325-2.3%1d
Fri, Sep 4$320-3.8%8d
Fri, Sep 11$325-2.3%15d
Fri, Sep 18$300-9.8%22d
Fri, Sep 25$325-2.3%29d
Fri, Oct 2$305-8.3%36d
Fri, Oct 16$280-15.8%50d
Fri, Dec 18$300-9.8%113d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot325245274303332361390$6M$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 — 325 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 28

spot325245297.5317.5332.5347.5375512512
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HLT open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 28.

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, Aug 28

spot325245297.5317.5332.5347.53752727
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 28

spot30031232433634836086%20%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 22.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 28

spotflip 330280305320332.5345365+$4.2M$4.2M
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, Aug 28

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.063150.00580.01-0.07-0.02
0.97-0.09317.50.00860.02-0.10-0.03
0.95-0.143200.01310.03-0.14-0.05
0.92-0.20322.50.02000.04-0.21-0.08
0.88-0.303250.03060.05-0.30-0.12
0.80-0.43327.50.04570.07-0.43-0.20
0.68-0.563300.06320.09-0.56-0.32
0.51-0.62332.50.07410.10-0.62-0.49
0.33-0.533350.06800.09-0.54-0.68
0.19-0.36337.50.04930.07-0.36-0.82
0.10-0.223400.03100.04-0.21-0.90
0.06-0.13342.50.01860.03-0.12-0.95
0.03-0.073450.01110.02-0.07-0.97
0.02-0.04347.50.00670.01-0.04-0.98
0.01-0.033500.00420.01-0.03-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 33 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot220315332.53453655120
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

spot1351902503203504202K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 18K call contracts, 17K 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: HLT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk