Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 11:29 PM ET

HNGE max pain

Spot (delayed)$88.49
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$40-54.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$26.35±29.8% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.06525 puts / 9K calls
Call wall$50largest call OI
Put wall$90largest put OI
IV3049.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$283Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $20

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Aug 21$80-9.6%4d
Fri, Sep 18$85-3.9%32d
Fri, Dec 18$90+1.7%123d
Fri, Jan 15$40-54.8%151d
Fri, Mar 19$80-9.6%214d
Fri, Jan 21$50-43.5%522d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot4018406385108130$65M$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot4017.53560851103K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HNGE 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

spot4017.53560851101111
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot18406385108130159%56%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 57.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 2017.5356085110+$109K$109K
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
0.92-0.01550.00410.09-0.02-0.08
0.89-0.02600.00540.11-0.02-0.11
0.84-0.03650.00680.14-0.03-0.15
0.80-0.03700.00820.16-0.03-0.20
0.74-0.03750.00940.18-0.04-0.26
0.69-0.04800.01050.20-0.04-0.31
0.63-0.04850.01120.22-0.04-0.37
0.57-0.04900.01170.23-0.04-0.43
0.52-0.04950.01180.23-0.04-0.49
0.46-0.041000.01180.23-0.04-0.54
0.41-0.041050.01150.22-0.04-0.60
0.37-0.041100.01110.22-0.04-0.64
0.33-0.041150.01060.21-0.04-0.69
0.29-0.041200.01000.20-0.04-0.73
0.25-0.041250.00940.18-0.04-0.76

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 25 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot204060801001205K0
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

spot17.53560851101357K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 31K call contracts, 32K 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: HNGE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk