Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 16, 12:36 AM ET

HOFT max pain

Spot (delayed)$12.77
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$12.5-2.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.5±3.9% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI1.005 puts / 5 calls
Call wall$12.5largest call OI
Put wall$12.5largest put OI
IV3070.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$1per 1% move

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 16$12.5-2.1%today
Fri, Nov 20$15+17.5%35d
Fri, Feb 19$10-21.7%126d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

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, Oct 16

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot10152025100
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5301010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 30 call contracts, 23 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: HOFT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk