Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 1:23 AM ET

NBIX max pain

Spot (delayed)$147.85
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$150+1.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$26.5±17.9% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.52257 puts / 491 calls
Call wall$160largest call OI
Put wall$165largest put OI
IV3043.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$72Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $150

Event risk before this expiration: 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$140-5.3%23d
Fri, Dec 18$155+4.8%51d
Fri, Jan 15$165+11.6%79d
Fri, Feb 19$155+4.8%114d
Fri, Mar 19$150+1.5%142d
Fri, May 21$125-15.5%205d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot15080118156194232270$5M$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 — 150 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot15080125155180210272272
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NBIX 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

spot1508012515518021011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot8011815619423227060%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 35.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 15080125155180210+$63K−$63K
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
0.89-0.021100.00470.17-0.03-0.11
0.86-0.031150.00560.20-0.03-0.14
0.83-0.031200.00670.23-0.03-0.17
0.79-0.031250.00780.27-0.04-0.21
0.69-0.041350.00990.32-0.04-0.31
0.64-0.041400.01070.34-0.04-0.36
0.58-0.041450.01140.36-0.05-0.42
0.53-0.041500.01180.36-0.05-0.48
0.47-0.041550.01190.36-0.05-0.54
0.41-0.041600.01180.36-0.05-0.60
0.36-0.041650.01130.34-0.04-0.66
0.31-0.041700.01070.32-0.04-0.71
0.27-0.041750.01000.30-0.04-0.76
0.23-0.041800.00920.28-0.04-0.80
0.20-0.031850.00830.26-0.03-0.84

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 25 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot651001301601902404730
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

spot65951251551852306K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 14K 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: NBIX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk