Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 10:21 AM ET

HRB max pain

Spot (delayed)$53.92
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$35-35.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.75±16.2% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.694K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$45largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3036.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$62Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $45

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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$40-25.8%6d
Fri, Sep 18$50-7.3%34d
Fri, Oct 16$45-16.5%62d
Fri, Nov 20$35-35.1%97d
Fri, Jan 15$40-25.8%153d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot35152739516375$7M$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot351522.53550651K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HRB open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot351522.5355065120120
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot182941526475132%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 451522.5355065+$24K$24K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.0022.50.00080.00-0.00-0.01
0.99250.00130.00-0.00-0.02
0.98300.00330.01-0.01-0.03
0.96-0.00350.00740.03-0.01-0.06
0.91-0.01400.01400.04-0.01-0.10
0.82-0.01450.02270.07-0.01-0.18
0.68-0.02500.03250.10-0.02-0.32
0.50-0.02550.03770.11-0.02-0.50
0.34-0.02600.03370.10-0.02-0.67
0.22-0.02650.02600.08-0.01-0.79
0.11-0.01750.01430.05-0.01-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot20304560752K0
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

spot1522.53550653K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 11K 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: HRB workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk