Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 4:40 AM ET

NGL max pain

Spot (delayed)$17.97
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$12-33.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.13±11.8% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.017 puts / 923 calls
Call wall$19largest call OI
Put wall$13largest put OI
IV3047.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$38Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$14-22.1%5d
Fri, Sep 18$12-33.2%33d
Fri, Oct 16$10-44.4%61d
Fri, Jan 15$12-33.2%152d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12121416171921$1M$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 — 12 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot121214161821656656
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NGL open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 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, Sep 18

spot1212141618211010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot121416171921104%46%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 47.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot1214161821+$30K$30K
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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.01120.02740.01-0.01-0.06
0.93-0.01130.03840.01-0.01-0.08
0.91-0.01140.05470.01-0.01-0.11
0.86-0.01150.07850.01-0.01-0.15
0.78-0.01160.11100.02-0.01-0.23
0.66-0.01170.14490.02-0.01-0.35
0.50-0.01180.15720.02-0.01-0.50
0.36-0.01190.14070.02-0.01-0.63
0.19-0.01210.08820.01-0.01-0.80

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

spot59121518211K0
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

spot48121620243K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 9K call contracts, 4K 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: NGL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk