Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 12:50 AM ET

HONA max pain

Spot (delayed)$163.31
Max pain · Fri, Dec 17$150-8.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$57.55±35.2% by Fri, Dec 17
Put/Call OI0.402K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$240largest call OI
Put wall$80largest put OI
IV3049.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$336Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $210

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, Nov 20$165+1.0%25d
Fri, Dec 18$160-2.0%53d
Fri, Jan 15$155-5.1%81d
Fri, Mar 19$160-2.0%144d
Thu, Jun 17$155-5.1%234d
Fri, Dec 17$150-8.2%417d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot15080114148182216250$13M$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 — 150 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot150801051301551802102K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HONA open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 17.

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, Dec 17

spot150801051301551802102020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot8011414818221625050%40%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 42.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spotflip 21080105130155180210+$312K−$312K
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, Dec 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.78-0.021300.00370.50-0.03-0.21
0.76-0.021350.00390.53-0.03-0.24
0.73-0.021400.00420.56-0.03-0.26
0.71-0.021450.00440.58-0.03-0.29
0.69-0.031500.00460.61-0.03-0.32
0.66-0.031550.00480.63-0.03-0.34
0.64-0.031600.00490.64-0.03-0.37
0.61-0.031650.00510.66-0.03-0.40
0.58-0.031700.00520.67-0.03-0.42
0.56-0.031750.00530.68-0.03-0.45
0.53-0.031800.00530.69-0.03-0.48
0.51-0.031850.00540.69-0.03-0.51
0.49-0.031900.00540.69-0.03-0.54
0.46-0.031950.00540.69-0.03-0.56
0.44-0.032000.00540.68-0.03-0.59

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 30 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot8012015519025032020K0
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

spot8011515018524031031K31K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 70K call contracts, 16K 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: HONA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk