Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 16, 11:23 PM ET

NTLA max pain

Spot (delayed)$11.9
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$13+9.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.08±17.4% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.845K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$17largest call OI
Put wall$12largest put OI
IV3073.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$28Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$11-7.6%4d
Fri, Sep 18$13+9.2%32d
Fri, Oct 16$11-7.6%60d
Fri, Jan 15$10-16.0%151d
Fri, Jan 21$10-16.0%522d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot131713182430$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 — 13 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot1318131823282K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NTLA open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 18.

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 18

spot1318131823282222
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot51015202530285%43%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 75.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 71813182328+$38K$38K
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 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.0050.00660.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.0060.01130.00-0.00-0.02
0.97-0.0070.01970.00-0.00-0.03
0.94-0.0180.03520.00-0.01-0.06
0.89-0.0190.06150.01-0.01-0.11
0.81-0.01100.09820.01-0.01-0.19
0.68-0.01110.13200.01-0.01-0.32
0.53-0.01120.14600.01-0.01-0.47
0.40-0.01130.13870.01-0.01-0.60
0.29-0.01140.11980.01-0.01-0.71
0.21-0.01150.09790.01-0.01-0.79
0.15-0.01160.07750.01-0.01-0.85
0.11-0.01170.06030.01-0.01-0.89
0.08-0.01180.04660.01-0.01-0.92
0.06-0.01190.03580.00-0.01-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 28 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot17121722273K0
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

spot1712.51824328K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 63K call contracts, 20K 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: NTLA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk