Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 3:09 AM ET

NBIL max pain

Spot (delayed)$11.11
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$10-10.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.82±52.4% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.2461 puts / 255 calls
Call wall$14largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV30191.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1Kper 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$18+62.0%26d
Fri, Dec 18$10-10.0%54d
Fri, Feb 19$17+53.0%117d
Fri, May 21$16+44.0%208d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot103814192530$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 — 10 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot103111519258080
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NBIL open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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, Dec 18

spot103111519251919
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot3814192530188%144%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 171.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot311151925+$493−$493
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.0130.00680.00-0.01-0.03
0.80-0.0280.03430.01-0.02-0.20
0.75-0.0290.03950.01-0.02-0.25
0.70-0.03100.04380.01-0.03-0.30
0.65-0.03110.04720.02-0.03-0.35
0.60-0.03120.04970.02-0.03-0.40
0.55-0.03130.05120.02-0.03-0.45
0.51-0.03140.05190.02-0.03-0.49
0.47-0.03150.05200.02-0.03-0.53
0.43-0.03160.05140.02-0.03-0.57
0.40-0.03170.05050.02-0.03-0.61
0.36-0.03180.04930.02-0.03-0.64

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 20 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot313202734416340
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

spot19172533412K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 7K 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: NBIL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk