Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 27, 4:31 AM ET

NOG max pain

Spot (delayed)$25.8
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$27+4.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.7±22.1% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI2.015K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$27largest put OI
IV3041.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$69Kper 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, Sep 18$20-22.5%21d
Fri, Oct 16$27+4.7%49d
Fri, Dec 18$20-22.5%112d
Fri, Jan 15$27+4.7%140d
Fri, Mar 19$15-41.9%203d
Fri, Dec 17$15-41.9%476d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot27101724313845$6M$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 — 27 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot271016202428352K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NOG 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

spot271016202428354040
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot101724313845120%43%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 44.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot101620242835+$76K$76K
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
0.90-0.00190.02760.03-0.01-0.13
0.87-0.01200.03370.03-0.01-0.17
0.82-0.01210.03950.04-0.01-0.21
0.78-0.01220.04510.05-0.01-0.25
0.72-0.01230.05020.05-0.01-0.30
0.67-0.01240.05470.06-0.01-0.36
0.61-0.01250.05810.06-0.01-0.42
0.55-0.01260.06000.06-0.01-0.47
0.49-0.01270.06050.06-0.01-0.53
0.44-0.01280.05950.06-0.01-0.58
0.39-0.01290.05740.06-0.01-0.63
0.34-0.01300.05440.06-0.01-0.68
0.26-0.01320.04730.05-0.01-0.75
0.18-0.01350.03640.04-0.00-0.83
0.10-0.01400.02280.03-0.00-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1017222631363K0
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

spot1017222733405K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 27K call contracts, 17K 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: NOG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk