Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 11, 4:33 AM ET

NFGC max pain

Spot (delayed)$1.7
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$1.5-11.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.68±39.7% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.05351 puts / 7K calls
Call wall$2.5largest call OI
Put wall$1.5largest put OI
IV3099.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$6Kper 1% move

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$1.5-11.8%8d
Fri, Sep 18$1-41.2%36d
Fri, Oct 16$1.5-11.8%64d
Fri, Jan 15$1.5-11.8%155d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1.5123568$3M$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 — 1.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1.50.51.52.57.53K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NFGC open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot1.50.51.52.57.52020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot123568153%72%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 79.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot0.51.52.57.5+$3K$3K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.960.000.50.05250.000.00-0.04
0.87-0.0010.17990.00-0.00-0.13
0.70-0.001.50.37000.00-0.00-0.30
0.50-0.0020.42330.00-0.00-0.50
0.38-0.002.50.36900.00-0.00-0.63
0.18-0.0050.19080.00-0.00-0.85
0.13-0.007.50.13310.000.00-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot0.51.52.57.54K0
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

spot0.51.52.57.56K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 16K call contracts, 975 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: NFGC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk