Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 11:52 PM ET

HST max pain

Spot (delayed)$24.75
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$22.28-10.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.5±18.2% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI4.654K puts / 928 calls
Call wall$26.13largest call OI
Put wall$22.28largest put OI
IV3030.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$102Kper 1% move

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$23-7.1%26d
Fri, Dec 18$24-3.0%54d
Fri, Jan 15$22.28-10.0%82d
Fri, Apr 16$18-27.3%173d
Fri, Jan 21$16.13-34.8%453d
Fri, Jan 19$15-39.4%817d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot22.2871318232934$6M$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 — 22.28 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot22.287.1314.1319.1324.1329.132K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HST open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot22.287.1314.1319.1324.1329.1311
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot71318232934143%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot7.1314.1319.1324.1329.13+$105K−$105K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.0012.130.00430.01-0.00-0.02
0.98-0.0014.130.00720.01-0.00-0.03
0.96-0.0016.130.01230.01-0.00-0.04
0.95-0.0017.280.01700.01-0.00-0.06
0.92-0.0019.130.02950.02-0.01-0.09
0.86-0.0121.130.05520.03-0.01-0.15
0.80-0.0122.280.07840.03-0.01-0.22
0.62-0.0124.130.11790.04-0.01-0.40
0.38-0.0126.130.11530.04-0.01-0.63
0.28-0.0127.280.09620.04-0.01-0.73
0.18-0.0129.130.06680.03-0.01-0.83
0.14-0.0130.280.05310.03-0.01-0.86
0.07-0.0034.130.02660.02-0.01-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 15 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot12.13192224.132734.136270
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

spot2.1314.13192327.2831.282K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K 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: HST workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk