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

NOG max pain

Spot (delayed)$26.21
Max pain · Fri, Dec 17$15-42.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.5±36.2% by Fri, Dec 17
Put/Call OI0.21772 puts / 4K calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$18largest put OI
IV3045.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$43Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $15
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

spot15101724313845$9M$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot1510182532452K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NOG open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 17.

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, Dec 17

spot151018253245200200
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot10172431384564%43%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 43.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spotflip 151018253245+$13K−$13K
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, Dec 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.00—100.00060.00-0.00-0.04
0.98—130.00570.01-0.00-0.07
0.95-0.00150.01260.03-0.00-0.11
0.86-0.00180.02250.05-0.00-0.18
0.80-0.00200.02700.07-0.00-0.23
0.72-0.00220.03020.09-0.00-0.29
0.62-0.01250.03350.10-0.01-0.39
0.55-0.01270.03460.10-0.01-0.45
0.46-0.01300.03450.10-0.00-0.54
0.41-0.01320.03360.10-0.00-0.60
0.33-0.01350.03140.10-0.00-0.67
0.24-0.00400.02660.08-0.00-0.76
0.18-0.00450.02180.07-0.00-0.83

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

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