Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 16, 5:03 PM ET

HSY max pain

Spot (delayed)$171.01
Max pain · Fri, Oct 30$160-6.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.4±5.5% by Fri, Oct 30
Put/Call OI0.62287 puts / 463 calls
Call wall$170largest call OI
Put wall$155largest put OI
IV3029.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$231Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $170

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 16$167.5-2.1%today
Fri, Oct 23$165-3.5%7d
Fri, Oct 30$160-6.4%14d
Fri, Nov 6$160-6.4%21d
Fri, Nov 13$160-6.4%28d
Fri, Nov 20$170-0.6%35d
Fri, Nov 27$165-3.5%42d
Fri, Dec 18$170-0.6%63d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot160125143161179197215$2M$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 — 160 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot160125152.5162.5172.5185215184184
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HSY open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 30.

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, Oct 30

spot160125152.5162.5172.51852151717
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot125143161179197215111%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 35.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spotflip 170125152.5162.5172.5185215+$172K−$172K
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, Oct 30

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.91-0.09152.50.01060.06-0.09-0.09
0.89-0.101550.01310.07-0.10-0.11
0.86-0.11157.50.01610.08-0.11-0.14
0.82-0.121600.01970.09-0.12-0.18
0.77-0.13162.50.02380.10-0.14-0.23
0.71-0.151650.02810.12-0.15-0.29
0.64-0.15167.50.03200.13-0.16-0.36
0.56-0.161700.03460.13-0.16-0.45
0.47-0.16172.50.03530.13-0.16-0.53
0.39-0.151750.03380.13-0.16-0.62
0.25-0.131800.02670.11-0.14-0.76
0.20-0.12182.50.02280.10-0.12-0.81
0.16-0.111850.01910.08-0.11-0.85
0.11-0.091900.01340.06-0.09-0.90
0.07-0.071950.00940.05-0.07-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot140155167.51801952206510
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

spot751301491752102703K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 21K call contracts, 16K 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: HSY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk