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

NTES max pain

Spot (delayed)$118.11
Max pain · Thu, Jun 17$125+5.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$28.65±24.3% by Thu, Jun 17
Put/Call OI0.5174 puts / 145 calls
Call wall$150largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3039.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$10Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $150

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

spot1256591117143169195$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 · Thu, Jun 17

spot12565851151351601857171
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NTES open contracts per strike for Thu, Jun 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 · Thu, Jun 17

spot125658511513516018511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot659111714316919547%36%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spotflip 1506585115135160185+$9K−$9K
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 · Thu, Jun 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.93-0.00750.00320.12-0.01-0.08
0.91-0.01800.00410.15-0.01-0.10
0.88-0.01850.00510.18-0.02-0.13
0.77-0.021000.00830.28-0.02-0.24
0.72-0.021050.00930.31-0.03-0.29
0.67-0.021100.01010.34-0.03-0.34
0.61-0.031150.01070.35-0.03-0.40
0.56-0.031200.01120.36-0.03-0.45
0.50-0.031250.01130.37-0.03-0.51
0.45-0.031300.01130.37-0.03-0.56
0.40-0.031350.01110.36-0.02-0.61
0.35-0.031400.01070.34-0.02-0.66
0.31-0.031450.01010.33-0.02-0.70
0.27-0.021500.00950.31-0.02-0.74
0.21-0.021600.00820.27-0.01-0.82

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 23 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