Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 17, 1:51 AM ET

HLT max pain

Spot (delayed)$345.12
Max pain · Fri, Nov 27$285-17.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$25.95±7.5% by Fri, Nov 27
Put/Call OI0.649 puts / 14 calls
Call wall$380largest call OI
Put wall$270largest put OI
IV3028.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$12Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $345

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 23$337.5-2.2%6d
Fri, Oct 30$310-10.2%13d
Fri, Nov 6$305-11.6%20d
Fri, Nov 13$225-34.8%27d
Fri, Nov 20$320-7.3%34d
Fri, Nov 27$285-17.4%41d
Fri, Dec 18$290-16.0%62d
Fri, Jan 15$290-16.0%90d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot285270294318342366390$1M$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 — 285 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 27

spot28527028534538055
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HLT open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 27.

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, Nov 27

spot2852702853453801616
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 27

spot27029431834236639047%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 27.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 27

spotflip 345270285345380+$5K−$5K
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, Nov 27

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.052700.00170.10-0.05-0.04
0.95-0.062750.00200.12-0.06-0.05
0.94-0.072850.00270.15-0.07-0.07
0.60-0.153400.01160.45-0.15-0.41
0.54-0.153450.01220.46-0.16-0.47
0.48-0.153500.01240.47-0.15-0.53
0.17-0.093800.00800.30-0.10-0.85
0.11-0.073900.00590.23-0.08-0.91

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

spot180210240322.53403552690
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

spot1351852503203604502K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 16K call contracts, 11K 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