Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 16, 5:03 AM ET

NDSN max pain

Spot (delayed)$308.72
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$260-15.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$38.05±12.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.95564 puts / 591 calls
Call wall$330largest call OI
Put wall$250largest put OI
IV3026.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$270Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $320

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Aug 21$290-6.1%4d
Fri, Sep 18$250-19.0%32d
Fri, Dec 18$260-15.8%123d
Fri, Mar 19$230-25.5%214d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot260170220270320370420$6M$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 — 260 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot260170230280330380275275
■ 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

spot26017023028033038011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot17022027032037042058%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 320170230280330380+$211K$211K
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
0.92-0.042400.00240.27-0.04-0.08
0.90-0.042500.00310.33-0.04-0.11
0.86-0.052600.00390.40-0.05-0.14
0.82-0.062700.00490.48-0.06-0.19
0.76-0.062800.00590.56-0.07-0.24
0.70-0.072900.00690.63-0.07-0.31
0.63-0.073000.00780.68-0.07-0.38
0.55-0.073100.00840.71-0.08-0.47
0.46-0.073200.00860.72-0.08-0.55
0.38-0.073300.00840.69-0.07-0.64
0.30-0.063400.00780.63-0.07-0.73
0.23-0.053500.00690.56-0.06-0.80
0.18-0.053600.00590.48-0.05-0.86
0.13-0.043700.00480.40-0.04-0.91
0.10-0.033800.00390.32-0.03-0.94

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

spot1802302703103503903400
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

spot160190240300360420341341
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 748 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 · GEX, defined · pin risk