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

HRL max pain

Spot (delayed)$20.57
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$22+7.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.58±12.5% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.453K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$26largest call OI
Put wall$19largest put OI
Net GEX+$18Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $27

Event risk before this expiration: 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 · 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, 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

spot22131722263135$5M$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 — 22 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot22131721252933936936
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HRL 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

spot221317212529335757
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot13172226313574%22%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 29.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 27131721252933+$33K$33K
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
0.99-0.00140.00770.00-0.00-0.02
0.98-0.00150.01670.01-0.00-0.04
0.96-0.00160.03280.01-0.00-0.06
0.92-0.00170.05740.02-0.00-0.11
0.85-0.00180.08820.03-0.00-0.17
0.74-0.01190.11890.03-0.01-0.27
0.61-0.01200.14110.04-0.01-0.41
0.47-0.01210.14680.04-0.01-0.56
0.33-0.01220.13350.04-0.01-0.70
0.23-0.00230.10890.03-0.00-0.81
0.15-0.00240.08300.03-0.00-0.89
0.10-0.00250.06110.02-0.00-0.93
0.07-0.00260.04440.01-0.00-0.96
0.05-0.00270.03230.01-0.00-0.98
0.04-0.00280.02360.01-0.00-0.99

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

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