Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 7:51 AM ET

NMRA max pain

Spot (delayed)$1.6
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$1.5-6.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.78±48.4% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.30531 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$2.5largest call OI
Put wall$1.5largest put OI
IV30161.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$866per 1% move · flip ≈ $1.5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$2+25.0%4d
Fri, Sep 18$1-37.5%32d
Fri, Oct 16$1-37.5%60d
Fri, Jan 15$1.5-6.3%151d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1.5123568$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 — 1.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1.50.51.52.557.51K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NMRA open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot1.50.51.52.557.511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot234568350%78%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 93.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 1.50.51.52.557.5+$805$805
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.000.50.05320.00-0.00-0.06
0.75-0.001.50.28280.00-0.00-0.30
0.50-0.002.50.31730.00-0.00-0.56
0.33-0.0050.21620.00-0.00-0.74
0.28-0.007.50.17540.00-0.00-0.80

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

spot0.51.52.57.57K0
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

spot0.51.52.57.57K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 21K call contracts, 7K 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: NMRA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk