Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 3:09 AM ET

NVDL max pain

Spot (delayed)$31.02
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$35+12.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.23±36.2% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.353K puts / 10K calls
Call wall$56largest call OI
Put wall$39largest put OI
IV3083.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$124Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $35

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 30$34.5+11.2%5d
Fri, Nov 6$35.5+14.4%12d
Fri, Nov 13$33+6.4%19d
Fri, Nov 20$35+12.8%26d
Fri, Nov 27$34+9.6%33d
Fri, Dec 4$34.5+11.2%40d
Fri, Dec 18$30-3.3%54d
Fri, Jan 15$17.67-43.0%82d
Fri, Mar 19$35+12.8%145d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot35152433425160$15M$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot351528354249563K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NVDL open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

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, Mar 19

spot35152835424956150150
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot15243342516092%67%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 73.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 35152835424956+$47K−$47K
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.77-0.02240.01900.06-0.02-0.22
0.75-0.02250.02040.06-0.02-0.24
0.72-0.02260.02170.06-0.02-0.27
0.70-0.02270.02280.07-0.02-0.29
0.67-0.02280.02390.07-0.02-0.32
0.65-0.02290.02490.07-0.02-0.35
0.62-0.02300.02570.07-0.02-0.37
0.59-0.02310.02640.07-0.02-0.40
0.56-0.02320.02700.08-0.02-0.43
0.54-0.02330.02740.08-0.02-0.46
0.51-0.02340.02760.08-0.02-0.48
0.49-0.02350.02780.08-0.02-0.51
0.46-0.02360.02780.08-0.02-0.53
0.44-0.02370.02760.08-0.02-0.56
0.41-0.02380.02740.08-0.02-0.58

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 37 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot202932.53639.5452K0
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

spot516.6726.33313646.6726K26K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 219K call contracts, 101K 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: NVDL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk