Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 11:50 PM ET

HTZ max pain

Spot (delayed)$2.05
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$4+95.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.17±56.8% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.2721K puts / 17K calls
Call wall$2largest call OI
Put wall$3largest put OI
IV30133.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$4Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $3

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, Oct 30$2-2.4%4d
Fri, Nov 6$2-2.4%11d
Fri, Nov 13$2-2.4%18d
Fri, Nov 20$2-2.4%25d
Fri, Nov 27$2-2.4%32d
Fri, Dec 4$2-2.4%39d
Fri, Dec 18$2.5+22.0%53d
Fri, Jan 15$3+46.3%81d
Fri, Mar 19$4+95.1%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot414791215$18M$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 — 4 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot41357101510K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HTZ open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 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, Mar 19

spot413571015736736
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot14791215162%107%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 120.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 313571015+$7K−$7K
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.90-0.0010.17660.00-0.00-0.11
0.59-0.0020.25790.01-0.00-0.35
0.39-0.0030.24150.01-0.00-0.53
0.27-0.0040.19970.00-0.00-0.64
0.20-0.0050.16410.00-0.00-0.70
0.16-0.0060.13730.00-0.00-0.74
0.13-0.0070.11740.00-0.00-0.78
0.12-0.0080.10230.00-0.00-0.80
0.09-0.00100.08120.00-0.00-0.83

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 9 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

spot0.51.52.53.535K0
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

spot0.535.5913179K179K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 705K call contracts, 595K 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: HTZ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk