Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 12:03 AM ET

NVDS max pain

Spot (delayed)$19.8
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$20+1.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.5±37.9% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.1033 puts / 30 calls
Call wall$17largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3060.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$103per 1% move

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$16-19.2%26d
Fri, Dec 18$20+1.0%54d
Fri, Mar 19$20+1.0%145d
Thu, Jun 17$35+76.8%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot20101418232731$1M$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot2010131922253199
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NVDS 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

spot2010131922253111
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot10141823273178%35%
— call IV— put IVQuoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot101319222531+$208−$208
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
1.00—100.02400.01-0.00-0.03
1.00—110.07050.02-0.00-0.12
1.00—120.11820.02-0.00-0.17
1.00—130.17540.03-0.01-0.32
1.00—170.00230.00-0.00-0.95
1.000.00180.01730.00-0.00-1.00
1.00-0.00190.07700.01-0.00-1.00
0.85-0.01200.12210.02-0.00-0.99
0.70-0.01210.13200.03-0.00-0.98
0.58-0.01220.12020.03-0.01-0.97
0.49-0.01230.11240.03-0.00-0.99
0.41-0.01240.10080.03-0.00-1.00
0.35-0.01250.08860.03-0.00-1.00
0.30-0.01260.07740.03-0.00-1.00
0.20-0.01300.04970.02-0.00-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot131721253034810
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

spot17131925318686
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 369 call contracts, 289 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: NVDS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk