Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 3:48 AM ET

NDSN max pain

Spot (delayed)$324.27
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$320-1.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$26.15±8.1% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.42911 puts / 640 calls
Call wall$330largest call OI
Put wall$250largest put OI
IV3024.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$214Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $320

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$320-1.3%23d
Fri, Dec 18$320-1.3%51d
Fri, Mar 19$240-26.0%142d
Thu, Jun 17$200-38.3%232d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot320170220270320370420$10M$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 — 320 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot320170230280330380275275
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NDSN 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

spot32017023028033038022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot17022027032037042094%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 320170230280330380+$167K−$167K
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
0.97-0.022500.00140.09-0.03-0.03
0.95-0.032600.00210.12-0.04-0.05
0.94-0.042700.00300.16-0.05-0.07
0.91-0.062800.00430.21-0.07-0.10
0.86-0.072900.00600.27-0.08-0.15
0.80-0.093000.00810.35-0.10-0.21
0.71-0.113100.01040.42-0.11-0.30
0.59-0.123200.01220.47-0.12-0.42
0.47-0.123300.01270.48-0.12-0.54
0.35-0.113400.01180.45-0.11-0.66
0.25-0.103500.01000.39-0.09-0.76
0.17-0.083600.00790.32-0.08-0.84
0.12-0.063700.00600.25-0.06-0.89
0.08-0.053800.00440.19-0.06-0.94
0.06-0.043900.00320.14-0.05-0.97

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

spot1702503003504005180
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

spot170200260320380440518518
■ 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: NDSN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk