Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:14 PM ET

NVMI max pain

Spot (delayed)$311.35
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$430+38.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$56.5±18.1% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.481K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$560largest call OI
Put wall$440largest put OI
IV3063.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$21Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $560

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$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

spot430140292444596748900$105M$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 — 430 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot430140195300400500700421421
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NVMI open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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, Dec 18

spot43014019530040050070033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot140292444596748900136%56%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 58.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 560140210320410500680+$105K−$105K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.90-0.132300.00210.21-0.13-0.10
0.84-0.172500.00300.29-0.17-0.15
0.81-0.182600.00350.33-0.19-0.19
0.77-0.202700.00410.37-0.20-0.23
0.72-0.222800.00460.41-0.22-0.28
0.67-0.232900.00500.44-0.23-0.33
0.62-0.243000.00530.47-0.24-0.38
0.56-0.253100.00560.48-0.25-0.44
0.51-0.253200.00570.49-0.25-0.50
0.45-0.253300.00560.48-0.25-0.55
0.40-0.243400.00550.47-0.24-0.60
0.35-0.233500.00530.45-0.23-0.65
0.31-0.223600.00500.43-0.22-0.70
0.27-0.213700.00460.40-0.21-0.74
0.23-0.193800.00430.37-0.20-0.78

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 58 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