Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 3:41 PM ET

NLY max pain

Spot (delayed)$23.39
Max pain · Fri, Sep 4$23-1.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.64±2.7% by Fri, Sep 4
Put/Call OI2.351K puts / 616 calls
Call wall$23.5largest call OI
Put wall$21largest put OI
IV3014.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$66Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $17

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$23-1.6%4d
Fri, Aug 28$23-1.6%11d
Fri, Sep 4$23-1.6%18d
Fri, Sep 11$23-1.6%25d
Fri, Sep 18$23-1.6%32d
Fri, Sep 25$23-1.6%39d
Fri, Oct 2$22.5-3.8%46d
Fri, Oct 16$23-1.6%60d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot23151719212325$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, Sep 4

spot231519.52122.524444444
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NLY open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 4.

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, Sep 4

spot231519.52122.524100100
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot21222323242554%14%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 14.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spotflip 171519.52122.524+$73K$73K
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, Sep 4

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.00200.03780.00-0.01-0.04
0.95-0.0120.50.05110.01-0.01-0.05
0.94-0.01210.07100.01-0.01-0.06
0.92-0.0121.50.10220.01-0.01-0.09
0.88-0.01220.15360.01-0.01-0.12
0.82-0.0122.50.24250.01-0.01-0.18
0.70-0.01230.39320.02-0.01-0.30
0.48-0.0123.50.53030.02-0.01-0.54
0.26-0.01240.40320.02-0.01-0.78
0.14-0.0124.50.24030.01-0.01-0.90
0.09-0.01250.14770.01-0.01-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 15 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