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

HST max pain

Spot (delayed)$24.75
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$18-27.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.53±18.3% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI0.3917 puts / 44 calls
Call wall$18largest call OI
Put wall$24largest put OI
IV3030.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $18

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

spot18151720222527$1M$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 — 18 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot181518212325271313
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HST open contracts per strike for Fri, Apr 16.

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, Apr 16

spot1815182123252733
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot15172022252762%27%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spotflip 18151821232527+$343−$343
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, Apr 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.92-0.00160.01700.03-0.00-0.09
0.89-0.00180.02540.03-0.00-0.12
0.83-0.00200.03840.04-0.01-0.17
0.80-0.01210.04730.05-0.01-0.21
0.75-0.01220.05760.05-0.01-0.26
0.69-0.01230.06810.06-0.01-0.32
0.62-0.01240.07640.06-0.01-0.40
0.54-0.01250.07990.07-0.01-0.47
0.46-0.01260.07850.07-0.01-0.55
0.40-0.01270.07360.07-0.01-0.61

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 11 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