Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 1:44 AM ET

NCLH max pain

Spot (delayed)$15.27
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$17+11.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.48±16.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.8789K puts / 101K calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$16largest put OI
IV3056.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$957Kper 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, Oct 30$15-1.8%4d
Fri, Nov 6$16+4.8%11d
Fri, Nov 13$16+4.8%18d
Fri, Nov 20$16+4.8%25d
Fri, Nov 27$16+4.8%32d
Fri, Dec 4$16+4.8%39d
Fri, Dec 18$17+11.3%53d
Fri, Jan 15$20+31.0%81d
Fri, Mar 19$18+17.9%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1731018253340$176M$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 — 17 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot173141924294024K24K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NCLH 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

spot1731419242940153153
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot51219263340203%48%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 53.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot31419242940+$581K−$581K
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
1.00—30.00130.00-0.00-0.01
0.990.0050.00270.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.0080.00800.00-0.00-0.02
0.97-0.00100.01900.00-0.00-0.03
0.81-0.01130.08280.02-0.01-0.19
0.71-0.01140.10750.02-0.01-0.29
0.59-0.01150.12430.02-0.01-0.42
0.46-0.01160.12880.02-0.01-0.55
0.34-0.01170.12080.02-0.01-0.67
0.24-0.01180.10360.02-0.01-0.77
0.16-0.01190.08220.01-0.01-0.85
0.11-0.01200.06160.01-0.01-0.92
0.07-0.00210.04500.01-0.00-0.96
0.05-0.00220.03330.01-0.00-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 26 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot913151719224K0
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

spot31114.518222960K60K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 294K call contracts, 283K 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: NCLH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk