Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 7:58 AM ET

HURN max pain

Spot (delayed)$198
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$160-19.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$48.8±24.6% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI3.48351 puts / 101 calls
Call wall$150largest call OI
Put wall$160largest put OI
IV3059.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$27Kper 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$125-36.9%24d
Fri, Dec 18$145-26.8%52d
Fri, Mar 19$160-19.2%143d
Thu, Jun 17$150-24.2%233d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1605596137178219260$3M$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, Mar 19

spot1605590115160195250127127
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HURN 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

spot160559011516019525066
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot5596137178219260116%47%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 49.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot5590115160195250+$19K−$19K
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
0.83-0.061550.00370.32-0.06-0.17
0.81-0.061600.00410.34-0.06-0.20
0.78-0.061650.00440.37-0.07-0.22
0.76-0.071700.00480.39-0.07-0.25
0.73-0.071750.00520.41-0.07-0.27
0.64-0.081900.00600.47-0.08-0.36
0.61-0.081950.00620.48-0.08-0.40
0.58-0.082000.00640.49-0.08-0.43
0.52-0.082100.00660.50-0.08-0.50
0.40-0.082300.00640.48-0.08-0.62
0.34-0.072400.00610.46-0.08-0.68
0.29-0.072500.00570.43-0.07-0.73
0.25-0.072600.00530.40-0.07-0.78

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 27 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot65951251551852307060
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

spot5085120155190250706706
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 1K 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: HURN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk