Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 2:49 PM ET

NTAP max pain

Spot (delayed)$227.21
Max pain · Fri, Sep 17$240+5.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$90.25±39.7% by Fri, Sep 17
Put/Call OI0.96642 puts / 672 calls
Call wall$260largest call OI
Put wall$220largest put OI
IV3054.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$841per 1% move · flip ≈ $120

Event risk before this expiration: 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$200-12.0%23d
Fri, Dec 18$195-14.2%51d
Fri, Jan 15$145-36.2%79d
Fri, Mar 19$200-12.0%142d
Thu, Jun 17$200-12.0%232d
Fri, Sep 17$240+5.6%324d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot24095138181224267310$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 — 240 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 17

spot24095135165200250300454454
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NTAP open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 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, Sep 17

spot2409513516520025030044
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 17

spot9513818122426731062%53%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 53.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 17

spotflip 12095135165200250300+$80K−$80K
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, Sep 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.81-0.041700.00230.57-0.05-0.19
0.78-0.041800.00250.63-0.05-0.22
0.77-0.041850.00260.65-0.05-0.24
0.74-0.051950.00280.70-0.06-0.27
0.72-0.052000.00290.72-0.06-0.29
0.69-0.062100.00310.76-0.06-0.32
0.65-0.062200.00320.79-0.06-0.36
0.62-0.062300.00330.81-0.07-0.39
0.59-0.062400.00340.83-0.07-0.43
0.56-0.062500.00340.84-0.07-0.46
0.53-0.072600.00350.85-0.07-0.49
0.50-0.072700.00350.85-0.07-0.53
0.47-0.072800.00350.85-0.07-0.56
0.44-0.072900.00340.84-0.07-0.59
0.41-0.073000.00340.83-0.06-0.62

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 27 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot40801201602002803K0
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

spot40851301752403303K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 27K call contracts, 21K 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: NTAP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk