Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 10:36 AM ET

NU max pain

Spot (delayed)$15.13
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$15-0.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.88±19.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.62223K puts / 359K calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3061.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2.6Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $9

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, Oct 23$15-0.9%2d
Fri, Oct 30$14.5-4.2%9d
Fri, Nov 6$14-7.5%16d
Fri, Nov 13$14.5-4.2%23d
Fri, Nov 20$14-7.5%30d
Fri, Nov 27$14.5-4.2%37d
Fri, Dec 18$14-7.5%58d
Fri, Jan 15$15-0.9%86d
Fri, Mar 19$13-14.1%149d
Fri, Apr 16$14-7.5%177d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot151713182430$414M$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot15161116212763K63K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NU 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

spot1516111621274K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot3814192530190%45%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 48.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 938131823+$1.3M−$1.3M
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
0.98—80.00900.00-0.00-0.02
0.97-0.0090.01560.01-0.00-0.03
0.94-0.00100.02570.01-0.00-0.06
0.91-0.00110.04000.01-0.00-0.10
0.85-0.01120.05810.02-0.01-0.15
0.78-0.01130.07810.02-0.01-0.23
0.68-0.01140.09650.03-0.01-0.32
0.58-0.01150.10900.03-0.01-0.43
0.47-0.01160.11300.03-0.01-0.54
0.36-0.01170.10810.03-0.01-0.65
0.27-0.01180.09640.03-0.01-0.75
0.20-0.01190.08130.02-0.01-0.83
0.14-0.00200.06540.02-0.00-0.89
0.10-0.00210.05090.01-0.00-0.94
0.07-0.00220.03860.01-0.00-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 27 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot59.51214.51719.549K0
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

spot1812162027200K200K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1.4M call contracts, 785K 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: NU workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk