Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 6:21 AM ET

NNI max pain

Spot (delayed)$127.79
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$140+9.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$20.1±15.7% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.000 puts / 1 calls
Call wall$140largest call OI
IV3024.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$260per 1% move

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$130+1.7%5d
Fri, Sep 18$135+5.6%33d
Fri, Dec 18$115-10.0%124d
Fri, Mar 19$140+9.6%215d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

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, Mar 19

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot125130135140145210
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

spot70951201451701952121
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 51 call contracts, 16 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: NNI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk