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

NHC max pain

Spot (delayed)$227.11
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$200-11.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$32.25±14.2% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.2617 puts / 66 calls
Call wall$200largest call OI
Put wall$210largest put OI
IV3031.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$15Kper 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 · 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, 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

spot200120156192228264300$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 — 200 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot2001201451601902102504040
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NHC open contracts per strike for Fri, Feb 19.

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, Feb 19

spot20012014516019021025011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot12015619222826430064%29%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 29.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot120145160190210250+$13K−$13K
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, Feb 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.021450.00140.13-0.02-0.04
0.94-0.031550.00190.16-0.03-0.06
0.93-0.031600.00220.18-0.03-0.07
0.92-0.031650.00250.20-0.03-0.08
0.84-0.041900.00510.33-0.04-0.16
0.78-0.052000.00650.40-0.05-0.22
0.71-0.052100.00800.47-0.06-0.29
0.62-0.062200.00920.52-0.06-0.38
0.34-0.062500.00910.50-0.06-0.67
0.10-0.033000.00400.24-0.04-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 12 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