Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 13, 4:50 AM ET

HRL max pain

Spot (delayed)$20.57
Max pain · Fri, Sep 25$21+2.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.63±3.0% by Fri, Sep 25
Put/Call OI0.28913 puts / 3K calls
Call wall$22largest call OI
Put wall$21largest put OI
Net GEX+$138Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $17

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Sep 18$22+7.0%5d
Fri, Sep 25$21+2.1%12d
Fri, Oct 2$22+7.0%19d
Fri, Oct 9$23+11.8%26d
Fri, Oct 16$22+7.0%33d
Fri, Oct 23$22+7.0%40d
Fri, Oct 30$21+2.1%47d
Fri, Dec 18$22+7.0%96d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot21131720242731$3M$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 — 21 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot21131720.52225312K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HRL open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 25.

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, Sep 25

spot21131720.52225313535
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot17192122242674%18%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 19.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spotflip 17131720.52225+$100K$100K
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, Sep 25

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.00130.00620.00-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.00140.00900.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.01160.02130.00-0.01-0.03
0.96-0.01170.03590.00-0.01-0.04
0.89-0.01190.14010.01-0.01-0.12
0.72-0.01200.34040.01-0.01-0.28
0.54-0.0120.50.46710.02-0.01-0.47
0.32-0.01210.41050.01-0.01-0.70
0.18-0.0121.50.26840.01-0.01-0.84
0.11-0.01220.17080.01-0.01-0.91
0.05-0.01230.07810.01-0.01-0.96
0.03-0.00240.04140.00-0.00-0.98
0.02-0.00250.02430.00-0.00-0.99
0.01-0.00260.01530.00-0.00-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot11192224.5297K0
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

spot11172124293516K16K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 71K call contracts, 26K 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: HRL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk