Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:14 PM ET

NOVT max pain

Spot (delayed)$140.8
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$130-7.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$18.15±12.9% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI2.753K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$220largest call OI
Put wall$105largest put OI
IV3058.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$189Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $60

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

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 20$130-7.7%25d
Fri, Dec 18$135-4.1%53d
Fri, Feb 19$135-4.1%116d
Fri, Mar 19$95-32.5%144d
Fri, May 21$80-43.2%207d
Fri, Sep 17$115-18.3%326d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1305594133172211250$15M$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 — 130 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1305585115145175210851851
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NOVT open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot13055851151451752102323
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot5594133172211250196%48%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 58.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 605585115145175210+$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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.91-0.101050.00490.06-0.10-0.09
0.89-0.111100.00610.07-0.11-0.11
0.85-0.121150.00770.09-0.12-0.14
0.81-0.131200.00950.10-0.13-0.18
0.76-0.141250.01160.12-0.14-0.23
0.70-0.151300.01380.14-0.15-0.30
0.63-0.161350.01570.15-0.16-0.37
0.54-0.171400.01700.15-0.17-0.45
0.46-0.161450.01730.15-0.16-0.54
0.38-0.151500.01660.15-0.15-0.62
0.31-0.141550.01510.14-0.14-0.69
0.25-0.131600.01340.12-0.13-0.75
0.20-0.121650.01160.11-0.12-0.80
0.16-0.111700.00990.10-0.11-0.83
0.14-0.101750.00840.09-0.10-0.86

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 34 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot551001351651952508520
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

spot5585115145175210853853
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 3K 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: NOVT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk