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

HLT max pain

Spot (delayed)$345.12
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$290-16.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$36.15±10.5% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.965K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$300largest call OI
Put wall$300largest put OI
IV3028.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$885Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $160

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 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

spot290105184263342421500$104M$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 — 290 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot2901051501952803704601K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HLT 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

spot2901051501952803704601414
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot105184263342421500103%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 25.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 160150185240310380450+$389K−$389K
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
0.92-0.052800.00260.27-0.05-0.08
0.89-0.062900.00340.33-0.06-0.11
0.85-0.073000.00430.40-0.07-0.15
0.81-0.083100.00530.47-0.08-0.19
0.75-0.083200.00650.55-0.09-0.25
0.69-0.093300.00760.61-0.10-0.32
0.61-0.103400.00850.66-0.10-0.41
0.52-0.103500.00910.69-0.10-0.50
0.43-0.093600.00910.68-0.10-0.59
0.34-0.093700.00860.64-0.09-0.69
0.27-0.083800.00780.57-0.09-0.77
0.20-0.073900.00660.49-0.08-0.85
0.15-0.054000.00550.41-0.07-0.91
0.11-0.044100.00440.33-0.06-0.96
0.08-0.044200.00350.27-0.03-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 50 are in the CSV. 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