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

NTES max pain

Spot (delayed)$118.11
Max pain · Fri, Sep 17$120+1.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$34.05±28.8% by Fri, Sep 17
Put/Call OI0.6474 puts / 115 calls
Call wall$130largest call OI
Put wall$115largest put OI
IV3039.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$6Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $135

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

spot1206588111134157180$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 — 120 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 17

spot12065851151301451602727
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NTES 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

spot120658511513014516011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 17

spot658811113415718044%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 17

spotflip 1356585115130145160+$3K−$3K
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
0.95—650.00220.11-0.01-0.06
0.91-0.01750.00340.18-0.01-0.09
0.89-0.01800.00410.21-0.01-0.12
0.86-0.01850.00490.25-0.02-0.15
0.83-0.01900.00570.28-0.02-0.18
0.67-0.021100.00850.40-0.02-0.34
0.62-0.021150.00900.41-0.02-0.39
0.58-0.021200.00930.43-0.02-0.43
0.53-0.021250.00950.43-0.02-0.48
0.49-0.021300.00960.43-0.02-0.53
0.45-0.021350.00950.43-0.02-0.57
0.41-0.021400.00930.42-0.02-0.61
0.37-0.021450.00910.41-0.02-0.66
0.33-0.021500.00880.40-0.02-0.69
0.30-0.021550.00840.38-0.02-0.73

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 17 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