Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 12, 8:14 AM ET

NHC max pain

Spot (delayed)$227.11
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$150-34.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$20.15±8.9% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.2314 puts / 61 calls
Call wall$185largest call OI
Put wall$220largest put OI
IV3031.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$8Kper 1% move
Earnings · expectedFri, Nov 6usually after the close

Event risk before this expiration: CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 16$230+1.3%4d
Fri, Nov 20$150-34.0%39d← 1st expiry after earnings (Fri, Nov 6)
Fri, Feb 19$200-11.9%130d
Fri, May 21$280+23.3%221d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot150110144178212246280$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 — 150 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1501101451702002402802020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NHC open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot15011014517020024028011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot110144178212246280122%28%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 32.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot110145170210250+$5K−$5K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.92-0.081700.00290.11-0.08-0.07
0.91-0.091750.00340.12-0.08-0.08
0.89-0.091850.00470.15-0.09-0.11
0.87-0.101900.00550.16-0.10-0.13
0.82-0.102000.00780.20-0.10-0.18
0.74-0.112100.01090.25-0.11-0.26
0.62-0.122200.01440.29-0.12-0.37
0.47-0.112300.01630.30-0.12-0.53
0.32-0.102400.01470.27-0.10-0.68
0.21-0.092500.01130.22-0.09-0.79
0.14-0.072600.00810.17-0.07-0.86
0.09-0.062700.00580.13-0.06-0.91
0.07-0.042800.00420.10-0.05-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot110145165200240280410
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

spot1001301601902403004141
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 130 call contracts, 45 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: NHC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk