Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 7:27 PM ET

HSAI max pain

Spot (delayed)$13.72
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$17.5+27.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.4±32.1% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.481K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$12.5largest put OI
IV3073.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$12Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $20

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$15+9.3%25d
Fri, Dec 18$12.5-8.9%53d
Fri, Jan 15$15+9.3%81d
Fri, Feb 19$17.5+27.6%116d
Fri, Apr 16$10-27.1%172d
Thu, Jun 17$15+9.3%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot17.551219263340$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 — 17.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot17.5510152025351K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HSAI open contracts per strike for Fri, Feb 19.

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, Feb 19

spot17.55101520253511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot51219263340186%65%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 73.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 2051015202535+$11K−$11K
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, Feb 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.0050.00680.00-0.00-0.02
0.93-0.007.50.01910.01-0.00-0.07
0.84-0.01100.04200.02-0.01-0.16
0.68-0.0112.50.06520.03-0.01-0.32
0.50-0.01150.07290.03-0.01-0.50
0.36-0.0117.50.06690.03-0.01-0.65
0.25-0.01200.05580.03-0.01-0.76
0.18-0.0122.50.04470.02-0.01-0.84
0.13-0.01250.03530.02-0.01-0.89
0.07-0.00300.02180.01-0.00-0.97
0.04-0.00350.01380.01-0.00-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 12 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot7.512.517.522.530403K0
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

spot2.51017.525405K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 25K call contracts, 13K 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: HSAI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk