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

NGL max pain

Spot (delayed)$17.97
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$12-33.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.25±29.2% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.04123 puts / 3K calls
Call wall$18largest call OI
Put wall$18largest put OI
IV3047.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$55Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $12

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$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

spot12101418222630$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 — 12 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1210131619241K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NGL 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

spot1210131619241313
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot10141822263080%50%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 54.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 121013161924+$28K$28K
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
0.90-0.01110.02500.02-0.01-0.10
0.87-0.01120.03070.02-0.01-0.13
0.83-0.01130.03700.03-0.01-0.17
0.78-0.01140.04370.03-0.01-0.21
0.73-0.01150.05010.04-0.01-0.26
0.67-0.01160.05570.04-0.01-0.32
0.61-0.01170.05990.04-0.01-0.38
0.54-0.01180.06240.04-0.01-0.44
0.48-0.01190.06310.04-0.01-0.50
0.42-0.01200.06220.04-0.01-0.55
0.27-0.01230.05320.04-0.01-0.70
0.24-0.01240.04910.04-0.01-0.74
0.20-0.01250.04480.03-0.01-0.77
0.09-0.00300.02570.02-0.00-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 15 are in the CSV. 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