Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 13, 8:17 AM ET

NRG max pain

Spot (delayed)$113
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$120+6.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$23±20.4% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.1511K puts / 71K calls
Call wall$170largest call OI
Put wall$55largest put OI
Net GEX+$5.7Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $145

Event risk before this expiration: 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$120+6.2%5d
Fri, Sep 25$119+5.3%12d
Fri, Oct 2$115+1.8%19d
Fri, Oct 9$115+1.8%26d
Fri, Oct 16$110-2.7%33d
Fri, Oct 23$116+2.7%40d
Fri, Oct 30$108-4.4%47d
Fri, Dec 18$120+6.2%96d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1203076122168214260$694M$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 — 120 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot120306510013517021030K30K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NRG open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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 18

spot1203065100135170210549549
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot3076122168214260163%45%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 48.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 1454075110145180230+$3.2M$3.2M
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 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.93-0.02800.00450.08-0.02-0.07
0.90-0.03850.00600.11-0.03-0.11
0.86-0.04900.00770.14-0.04-0.15
0.81-0.04950.00940.16-0.04-0.20
0.75-0.051000.01100.19-0.05-0.26
0.69-0.051050.01230.21-0.05-0.32
0.62-0.061100.01320.23-0.06-0.39
0.55-0.061150.01380.23-0.06-0.46
0.49-0.061200.01390.23-0.06-0.53
0.42-0.061250.01360.23-0.06-0.59
0.36-0.061300.01300.22-0.06-0.65
0.31-0.051350.01220.21-0.05-0.71
0.27-0.051400.01120.19-0.05-0.76
0.22-0.041450.01020.18-0.05-0.80
0.19-0.041500.00920.16-0.04-0.84

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 41 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot651081181281451956K0
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

spot409012015018025032K32K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 136K call contracts, 45K 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: NRG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk