Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 12, 12:05 PM ET

NVCT max pain

Spot (delayed)$19.41
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$7.5-61.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.4±43.3% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.0226 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$12.5largest put OI
IV3078.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$18Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Aug 21$20+3.0%5d
Fri, Sep 18$20+3.0%33d
Fri, Oct 16$10-48.5%61d
Fri, Jan 15$7.5-61.4%152d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7.581319243035$2M$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 — 7.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot7.57.512.517.522.5301K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NVCT 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

spot7.57.512.517.522.530100100
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot81319243035229%71%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 83.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot7.512.517.522.530+$14K$14K
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
0.93-0.007.50.00790.01-0.01-0.06
0.89-0.01100.01300.02-0.01-0.10
0.83-0.0112.50.01930.03-0.01-0.16
0.76-0.01150.02620.04-0.01-0.23
0.67-0.0117.50.03210.04-0.01-0.32
0.58-0.01200.03590.05-0.01-0.41
0.49-0.0122.50.03730.05-0.01-0.49
0.42-0.01250.03670.05-0.01-0.57
0.30-0.01300.03230.04-0.01-0.70
0.22-0.01350.02680.04-0.01-0.78

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot7.512.517.522.5304K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5304K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 16K call contracts, 2K 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: NVCT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk