Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 13, 5:06 PM ET

NOG max pain

Spot (delayed)$26.21
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$27+3.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.68±17.8% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI1.886K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$35largest call OI
Put wall$27largest put OI
IV3045.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$69Kper 1% move
Earnings · expectedThu, Nov 5usually after the close

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Oct 16$24-8.4%3d
Fri, Nov 20$24-8.4%38d← 1st expiry after earnings (Thu, Nov 5)
Fri, Dec 18$20-23.7%66d
Fri, Jan 15$27+3.0%94d
Fri, Mar 19$20-23.7%157d
Fri, Dec 17$15-42.8%430d
Fri, Jan 21$23-12.2%465d
Fri, Jan 19$15-42.8%829d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot27101724313845$7M$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

spot271016202428351212
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot101724313845100%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 43.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot101620242835+$84K−$84K
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
0.92-0.01190.02650.02-0.01-0.11
0.89-0.01200.03300.02-0.01-0.14
0.85-0.01210.04050.03-0.01-0.18
0.81-0.01220.04880.04-0.01-0.23
0.75-0.01230.05720.04-0.01-0.28
0.69-0.01240.06470.04-0.01-0.34
0.61-0.01250.07020.05-0.01-0.41
0.54-0.01260.07290.05-0.01-0.48
0.47-0.01270.07260.05-0.01-0.54
0.40-0.01280.06970.05-0.01-0.60
0.34-0.01290.06500.05-0.01-0.66
0.29-0.01300.05940.04-0.01-0.70
0.22-0.01320.04800.04-0.01-0.78
0.14-0.01350.03410.03-0.01-0.84
0.08-0.01400.02000.02-0.00-0.91

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

spot1020242934404K0
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

spot1017222733404K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 24K call contracts, 14K 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