Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 19, 11:10 AM ET

NGG max pain

Spot (delayed)$81.45
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$85+4.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.85±10.9% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.70999 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$85largest call OI
Put wall$85largest put OI
IV3019.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$23Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $65

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$85+4.4%2d
Fri, Sep 18$85+4.4%30d
Fri, Nov 20$80-1.8%93d
Fri, Dec 18$85+4.4%121d
Fri, Mar 19$45-44.8%212d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot8545627996113130$7M$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 — 85 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot8545607590105120469469
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NGG 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

spot854560759010512077
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot4562799611313057%22%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 22.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 6545607590105120+$87K$87K
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
0.99450.00060.01-0.00-0.01
0.99500.00120.01-0.00-0.01
0.98550.00230.02-0.00-0.02
0.97-0.00600.00440.03-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.00650.00840.05-0.01-0.07
0.90-0.01700.01540.09-0.01-0.13
0.80-0.01750.02620.13-0.01-0.23
0.64-0.02800.03770.17-0.02-0.40
0.44-0.02850.04110.18-0.01-0.59
0.27-0.01900.03370.15-0.01-0.75
0.15-0.01950.02300.11-0.01-0.86
0.09-0.011000.01470.08-0.00-0.92
0.05-0.011050.00930.05-0.00-0.96
0.03-0.001100.00600.04-0.01-1.00
0.02-0.001150.00390.03-0.01-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot406075901051202K0
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

spot4060801001203K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 8K call contracts, 6K 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: NGG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk