Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 2:00 AM ET

NLY max pain

Spot (delayed)$23.33
Max pain · Fri, Sep 25$23-1.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.04±4.4% by Fri, Sep 25
Put/Call OI0.73192 puts / 263 calls
Call wall$23.5largest call OI
Put wall$23largest put OI
IV3014.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$12Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $22

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$23-1.4%4d
Fri, Aug 28$22.5-3.6%11d
Fri, Sep 4$23-1.4%18d
Fri, Sep 11$23-1.4%25d
Fri, Sep 18$23-1.4%32d
Fri, Sep 25$23-1.4%39d
Fri, Oct 2$22-5.7%46d
Fri, Oct 16$23-1.4%60d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot23171920222325$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 25

spot2317232425177177
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NLY open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 25.

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 25

spot2317232425114114
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot22232324242522%12%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 16.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spotflip 2217232425+$29K$29K
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 25

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.00170.00960.00-0.00-0.01
0.83-0.01220.15490.02-0.01-0.17
0.65-0.01230.28060.03-0.01-0.36
0.50-0.0123.50.32830.03-0.01-0.52
0.34-0.01240.31160.03-0.01-0.70
0.21-0.0024.50.23930.02-0.01-0.84
0.13-0.00250.16400.02-0.00-0.93

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

spot1418.521.523.525.59K0
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: 62K 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