Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 13, 12:01 AM ET

HP max pain

Spot (delayed)$38.72
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$20-48.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.9±15.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.993K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$35largest call OI
Put wall$17.5largest put OI
IV3044.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$130Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

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 16$40+3.3%2d
Fri, Nov 20$37.5-3.2%37d
Fri, Dec 18$20-48.3%65d
Fri, Jan 15$40+3.3%93d
Fri, Mar 19$25-35.4%156d
Fri, Jan 21$17.5-54.8%464d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2031426374960$8M$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot202.512.522.532.542.552.51K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HP open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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 18

spot202.512.522.532.542.552.511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot102030405060148%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 44.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 7.57.517.527.537.547.560+$72K−$72K
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 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.00200.00320.01-0.01-0.02
0.98-0.0022.50.00530.01-0.01-0.03
0.96-0.01250.00860.01-0.01-0.05
0.93-0.0127.50.01380.02-0.01-0.07
0.89-0.01300.02140.03-0.01-0.11
0.83-0.0132.50.03160.04-0.02-0.18
0.73-0.02350.04310.05-0.02-0.27
0.61-0.0237.50.05230.06-0.02-0.40
0.47-0.02400.05540.07-0.02-0.54
0.35-0.0242.50.05140.06-0.02-0.66
0.25-0.02450.04330.05-0.02-0.76
0.17-0.0147.50.03440.04-0.01-0.84
0.12-0.01500.02640.03-0.01-0.89
0.09-0.0152.50.02000.03-0.01-0.92
0.06-0.01550.01510.02-0.01-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot7.522.53037.54552.51K0
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

spot2.512.522.532.542.552.51K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K call contracts, 6K 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: HP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk