Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 6:56 PM ET

NTES max pain

Spot (delayed)$118.05
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$125+5.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.8±9.1% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.57292 puts / 515 calls
Call wall$135largest call OI
Put wall$125largest put OI
IV3039.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$35Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $135

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$125+5.9%25d
Fri, Dec 18$125+5.9%53d
Fri, Jan 15$110-6.8%81d
Fri, Mar 19$120+1.7%144d
Thu, Jun 17$125+5.9%234d
Fri, Sep 17$120+1.7%326d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12590104118132146160$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 — 125 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot12590105120135150187187
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NTES 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

spot1259010512013515044
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot9010411813214616066%40%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 43.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 13590105120135150+$47K−$47K
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
0.96-0.03900.00450.03-0.03-0.04
0.94-0.04950.00690.04-0.04-0.06
0.90-0.051000.01060.05-0.05-0.10
0.85-0.071050.01610.07-0.07-0.15
0.76-0.081100.02320.10-0.08-0.24
0.62-0.101150.02960.12-0.10-0.38
0.47-0.101200.03150.12-0.10-0.53
0.33-0.091250.02790.11-0.09-0.68
0.23-0.081300.02200.09-0.08-0.78
0.15-0.071350.01650.07-0.07-0.85
0.11-0.061400.01220.06-0.06-0.90
0.08-0.051450.00910.05-0.04-0.93
0.06-0.041500.00680.04-0.04-0.95
0.03-0.031600.00400.02-0.02-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot40801101401702007320
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

spot4070100130160190968968
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K call contracts, 5K 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: NTES workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk