Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 9:21 PM ET

NLY max pain

Spot (delayed)$23.34
Max pain · Fri, Aug 28$23-1.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.59±2.5% by Fri, Aug 28
Put/Call OI0.42969 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$23largest call OI
Put wall$23.5largest put OI
IV3015.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$399Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $19.5

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$23-1.5%4d
Fri, Aug 28$23-1.5%11d
Fri, Sep 4$23-1.5%18d
Fri, Sep 11$23-1.5%25d
Fri, Sep 18$23-1.5%32d
Fri, Sep 25$23-1.5%39d
Fri, Oct 2$22.5-3.6%46d
Fri, Oct 16$23-1.5%60d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot23141719222427$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 — 23 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 28

spot231419.52122.52425.51K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NLY open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 28.

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, Aug 28

spot231419.52122.52425.5279279
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 28

spot21222324252662%13%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 18.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 28

spotflip 19.51419.52122.52425.5+$246K$246K
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, Aug 28

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.00200.02800.00-0.00-0.02
0.97-0.0020.50.03990.00-0.01-0.03
0.96-0.01210.05880.00-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.0121.50.09050.01-0.01-0.06
0.91-0.01220.14700.01-0.01-0.09
0.85-0.0122.50.25470.01-0.01-0.15
0.72-0.01230.45970.01-0.01-0.28
0.45-0.0123.50.64660.02-0.01-0.56
0.20-0.01240.41660.01-0.01-0.81
0.09-0.0124.50.21040.01-0.01-0.92
0.05-0.00250.11420.01-0.00-0.96
0.03-0.0025.50.06760.00-0.00-0.98
0.02-0.00260.04290.00-0.00-0.99
0.01-0.0026.50.02870.00-0.00-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1418.52123259K0
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

spot31619.522.525.528.522K22K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 63K call contracts, 73K 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 · GEX, defined · pin risk