Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 7:22 PM ET

NTRA max pain

Spot (delayed)$401.43
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$420+4.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$118.2±29.4% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI1.51427 puts / 283 calls
Call wall$420largest call OI
Put wall$420largest put OI
IV3063.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$39Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $240

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$350-12.8%25d
Fri, Dec 18$400-0.4%53d
Fri, Jan 15$270-32.7%81d
Fri, Mar 19$350-12.8%144d
Fri, Apr 16$420+4.6%172d
Thu, Jun 17$310-22.8%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot420165248331414497580$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 — 420 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot420165200270330380560252252
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NTRA open contracts per strike for Fri, Apr 16.

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, Apr 16

spot42016520027033038056011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot16524833141449758069%53%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 54.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spotflip 240165200270340400580+$16K−$16K
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, Apr 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.80-0.113200.00180.77-0.12-0.20
0.78-0.123300.00200.82-0.13-0.23
0.75-0.133400.00210.87-0.14-0.25
0.73-0.133500.00220.91-0.14-0.28
0.70-0.143600.00230.95-0.15-0.30
0.68-0.153700.00240.99-0.16-0.33
0.65-0.153800.00241.02-0.16-0.35
0.60-0.164000.00261.06-0.17-0.41
0.55-0.164200.00261.09-0.17-0.46
0.43-0.164700.00261.08-0.17-0.59
0.29-0.145400.00230.94-0.14-0.74
0.25-0.135600.00220.88-0.13-0.78
0.22-0.125800.00200.82-0.12-0.81

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 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

spot1051602203204205402K0
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

spot951502103204305403K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 21K call contracts, 17K 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: NTRA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk