Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 12:42 AM ET

NVMI max pain

Spot (delayed)$311.35
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$410+31.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$45.35±14.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.803K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$580largest call OI
Put wall$310largest put OI
IV3063.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$1.0Mper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 20$410+31.7%26d
Fri, Dec 18$430+38.1%54d
Fri, Jan 15$360+15.6%82d
Fri, Feb 19$360+15.6%117d
Fri, May 21$300-3.6%208d
Fri, Dec 17$350+12.4%418d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot410185328471614757900$121M$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 — 410 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot4101852903904906008001K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NVMI open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot41018529039049060080022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot185328471614757900193%64%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 65.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot185280370460550700+$200K−$200K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.91-0.192400.00240.14-0.19-0.09
0.88-0.222500.00310.17-0.22-0.12
0.85-0.262600.00380.20-0.26-0.15
0.81-0.292700.00460.24-0.30-0.20
0.75-0.332800.00540.27-0.33-0.25
0.69-0.362900.00620.30-0.36-0.31
0.63-0.383000.00670.33-0.38-0.38
0.56-0.393100.00710.34-0.40-0.45
0.48-0.403200.00720.34-0.40-0.52
0.42-0.393300.00700.34-0.39-0.59
0.35-0.373400.00660.32-0.38-0.65
0.30-0.353500.00610.30-0.36-0.71
0.25-0.333600.00550.28-0.33-0.76
0.21-0.303700.00500.25-0.31-0.80
0.18-0.273800.00440.23-0.28-0.83

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 55 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1402203404405407001K0
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

spot1402103404706007401K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 8K call contracts, 4K 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: NVMI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk