Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 22, 12:28 AM ET

NSC max pain

Spot (delayed)$328.5
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$330+0.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$17.7±5.4% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.81858 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$330largest call OI
Put wall$330largest put OI
IV3022.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$890Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $320

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$330+0.5%30d
Fri, Dec 18$330+0.5%58d
Fri, Jan 15$290-11.7%86d
Fri, Mar 19$310-5.6%149d
Thu, Jun 17$320-2.6%239d
Fri, Sep 17$330+0.5%331d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot330250292334376418460$13M$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 — 330 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot330250280310340370562562
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NSC 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

spot3302502803103403705151
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot25029233437641846078%22%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 320250280310340370+$352K−$352K
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
1.00—2600.00030.01-0.01-0.01
0.99-0.002700.00070.02-0.01-0.01
0.98-0.012800.00170.03-0.03-0.03
0.96-0.032900.00370.07-0.04-0.05
0.91-0.073000.00740.15-0.07-0.11
0.82-0.103100.01270.24-0.10-0.20
0.67-0.143200.01790.34-0.13-0.35
0.48-0.143300.01990.37-0.14-0.53
0.29-0.123400.01720.32-0.11-0.72
0.15-0.083500.01180.23-0.07-0.86
0.07-0.043600.00670.13-0.04-0.94
0.03-0.023700.00340.07-0.02-0.97
——460—0.00—-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1201702503103704309520
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

spot1101552002903804702K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 8K 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: NSC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk