Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 1:44 AM ET

NTRS max pain

Spot (delayed)$169.55
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$155-8.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.65±9.2% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.65325 puts / 498 calls
Call wall$180largest call OI
Put wall$150largest put OI
IV3024.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$73Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $130

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$165-2.7%25d
Fri, Dec 18$135-20.4%53d
Fri, Jan 15$155-8.6%81d
Fri, Apr 16$115-32.2%172d
Fri, Jan 21$160-5.6%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot15565102139176213250$4M$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 — 155 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot155651051351601852209393
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NTRS open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot1556510513516018522033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot6510213917621325095%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 24.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 13065105135160185220+$25K−$25K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.93-0.021350.00470.11-0.02-0.07
0.91-0.021400.00610.13-0.03-0.09
0.88-0.031450.00790.16-0.03-0.12
0.84-0.031500.01020.19-0.04-0.16
0.79-0.041550.01300.23-0.04-0.21
0.73-0.041600.01600.27-0.04-0.28
0.64-0.041650.01870.30-0.05-0.37
0.54-0.051700.02050.32-0.05-0.47
0.44-0.051750.02080.32-0.05-0.58
0.35-0.041800.01950.29-0.04-0.68
0.26-0.041850.01710.26-0.04-0.77
0.20-0.031900.01420.22-0.03-0.83
0.15-0.031950.01150.19-0.03-0.88
0.11-0.022000.00920.15-0.02-0.92
0.06-0.022100.00570.10-0.02-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 29 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot901201451701952406710
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

spot6595125155185230680680
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K call contracts, 3K 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: NTRS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk