Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 30, 8:31 PM ET

NIO max pain

Spot (delayed)$3.2
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$4+25.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.78±24.2% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI1.0327K puts / 26K calls
Call wall$4largest call OI
Put wall$3largest put OI
IV3054.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$38Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $3

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Nov 6$3.5+9.4%6d
Fri, Nov 13$3.5+9.4%13d
Fri, Nov 20$4+25.0%20d
Fri, Nov 27$3.5+9.4%27d
Fri, Dec 4$1-68.8%34d
Fri, Dec 11$3-6.3%41d
Fri, Dec 18$3-6.3%48d
Fri, Jan 15$4+25.0%76d
Fri, Feb 19$4+25.0%111d
Fri, Mar 19$5+56.2%139d
Fri, Apr 16$4+25.0%167d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot41356810$12M$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 — 4 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot41357917K17K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NIO 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

spot4135791K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot1356810154%54%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 55.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 313579+$63K−$63K
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
0.98-0.0010.02450.00-0.00-0.03
0.93-0.0020.11330.00-0.00-0.07
0.66-0.0030.37630.01-0.00-0.34
0.31-0.0040.34860.01-0.00-0.71
0.13-0.0050.20030.00-0.00-0.90
0.08-0.0060.11910.00-0.00-0.97
0.05-0.0070.08120.000.00-0.99
0.04-0.0080.06090.00—-1.00
0.040.0090.04860.00—-1.00
0.030.00100.04050.00—-1.00

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

spot0.52.54.56.51072K0
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

spot0.52.54.56.510309K309K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1.4M call contracts, 1.0M 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: NIO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk