Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 17, 4:31 AM ET

HZO max pain

Spot (delayed)$52.37
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$35-33.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.29±6.3% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.65210 puts / 324 calls
Call wall$35largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3018.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$8Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $30

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$50-4.5%34d
Fri, Jan 15$35-33.2%90d
Fri, Apr 16$50-4.5%181d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot35253341495765$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot352535455565149149
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HZO 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

spot35253545556511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot35404550556036%5%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 10.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 302535455565+$11K−$11K
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
0.99-0.00250.00070.00-0.00-0.00
0.99-0.00300.00140.01-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.00350.00270.01-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.00400.00610.01-0.00-0.02
0.96-0.00450.01660.02-0.00-0.04
0.88-0.00500.07770.05-0.00-0.12
0.11-0.00550.11390.06—-1.00
0.03-0.00600.01990.02—-1.00
0.02-0.00650.00810.01—-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot304050601490
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

spot17.525405570487487
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 331 call contracts, 668 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: HZO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk