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

NOVT max pain

Spot (delayed)$140.8
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$135-4.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$31.45±22.3% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.83127 puts / 153 calls
Call wall$180largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3058.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$7Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $180

Event risk before this expiration: 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, 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

spot13570106142178214250$1M$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 — 135 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot135701151401701952506060
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NOVT open contracts per strike for Fri, Feb 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, Feb 19

spot1357011514017019525011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot7010614217821425090%47%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 49.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 18080120150175200+$9K−$9K
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, Feb 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.86-0.041050.00470.18-0.04-0.14
0.83-0.051100.00550.20-0.05-0.17
0.80-0.051150.00630.23-0.05-0.20
0.76-0.061200.00710.25-0.06-0.24
0.72-0.061250.00780.27-0.06-0.28
0.67-0.061300.00850.29-0.07-0.33
0.63-0.071350.00910.30-0.07-0.37
0.58-0.071400.00950.31-0.07-0.42
0.48-0.071500.00980.32-0.07-0.52
0.44-0.071550.00980.32-0.07-0.57
0.40-0.071600.00960.31-0.07-0.61
0.35-0.061650.00920.30-0.07-0.66
0.32-0.061700.00880.29-0.06-0.70
0.28-0.061750.00840.27-0.06-0.73
0.25-0.051800.00790.26-0.06-0.77

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 26 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