Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 22, 12:53 AM ET

NLY max pain

Spot (delayed)$18.02
Max pain · Fri, Oct 23$18-0.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.35±1.9% by Fri, Oct 23
Put/Call OI0.283K puts / 11K calls
Call wall$18.5largest call OI
Put wall$18largest put OI
IV3025.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.5Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $15

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 23$18-0.1%2d
Fri, Oct 30$18.5+2.7%9d
Fri, Nov 6$18-0.1%16d
Fri, Nov 13$18.5+2.7%23d
Fri, Nov 20$19+5.4%30d
Fri, Nov 27$18.5+2.7%37d
Fri, Dec 18$19+5.4%58d
Fri, Jan 15$21+16.5%86d
Fri, Apr 16$20+11.0%177d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot18131620232730$13M$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 — 18 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 23

spot18131719.52224.5305K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NLY open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 23.

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, Oct 23

spot18131719.52224.5302K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 23

spot151618192122127%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 32.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 23

spotflip 15151718.52021.523+$831K−$831K
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, Oct 23

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.00—130.0002——0.00
1.00—140.0006—0.000.00
1.00—150.0024—0.00-0.00
1.00-0.00160.01360.00-0.00-0.00
0.99-0.0016.50.03760.00-0.00-0.01
0.97-0.01170.11920.00-0.01-0.03
0.89-0.0217.50.43040.00-0.02-0.11
0.53-0.04181.10640.01-0.04-0.47
0.12-0.0218.50.50920.00-0.02-0.89
0.03-0.00190.12720.00-0.01-0.98
0.01-0.0019.50.03750.00-0.00-1.00
0.00-0.00200.01330.00-0.00-1.00
0.000.0020.50.00540.00-0.00-1.00
0.000.00210.0025—-0.00-1.00
0.000.0021.50.0012—-0.00-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 26 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot13171921232817K0
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

spot31216.520.524.528.524K24K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 91K call contracts, 97K 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: NLY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk