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

NLY max pain

Spot (delayed)$18.02
Max pain · Fri, Nov 13$18.5+2.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.06±5.9% by Fri, Nov 13
Put/Call OI1.41475 puts / 336 calls
Call wall$19largest call OI
Put wall$17largest put OI
IV3025.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$19Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

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

spot18.5161718192022$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 — 18.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot18.515.51718.52021.5121121
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NLY open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 13.

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, Nov 13

spot18.515.51718.52021.5102102
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot16171819202267%22%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 29.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot15.51718.52021.5+$8K−$8K
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, Nov 13

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.94-0.0015.50.06400.01-0.00-0.06
0.91-0.01160.09580.01-0.01-0.09
0.87-0.0116.50.14300.01-0.01-0.13
0.79-0.01170.20820.01-0.01-0.21
0.68-0.0117.50.28370.02-0.01-0.32
0.53-0.01180.33690.02-0.01-0.48
0.36-0.0118.50.32500.02-0.01-0.65
0.22-0.01190.25560.01-0.01-0.79
0.14-0.0119.50.17720.01-0.01-0.89
0.08-0.00200.11700.01-0.01-0.94
0.05-0.0020.50.07690.01-0.00-0.98
0.03-0.00210.05120.00-0.00-0.99
0.02-0.0021.50.03480.00-0.00-1.00

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

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