Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 7:58 PM ET

NTES max pain

Spot (delayed)$118.11
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$120+1.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$23.35±19.8% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.76363 puts / 480 calls
Call wall$135largest call OI
Put wall$120largest put OI
IV3039.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$17Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $70

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$125+5.8%25d
Fri, Dec 18$125+5.8%53d
Fri, Jan 15$110-6.9%81d
Fri, Mar 19$120+1.6%144d
Thu, Jun 17$125+5.8%234d
Fri, Sep 17$120+1.6%326d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1206088116144172200$3M$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, Mar 19

spot1206090115140165195131131
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NTES open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 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, Mar 19

spot120609011514016519522
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot608811614417220056%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 706090115140165195+$23K−$23K
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.91-0.01850.00480.12-0.02-0.10
0.88-0.02900.00620.14-0.02-0.13
0.84-0.02950.00780.17-0.03-0.17
0.79-0.031000.00950.20-0.03-0.22
0.74-0.031050.01110.23-0.03-0.27
0.68-0.031100.01250.26-0.04-0.34
0.61-0.041150.01360.28-0.04-0.41
0.54-0.041200.01420.29-0.04-0.47
0.47-0.041250.01440.29-0.04-0.54
0.40-0.041300.01410.28-0.04-0.61
0.34-0.041350.01340.27-0.03-0.67
0.29-0.031400.01240.25-0.03-0.73
0.24-0.031450.01130.23-0.03-0.78
0.20-0.031500.01000.20-0.02-0.82
0.16-0.021550.00880.18-0.02-0.85

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

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