Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 9:22 PM ET

NVO max pain

Spot (delayed)$45.9
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$45-2.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.72±10.3% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI1.1958K puts / 49K calls
Call wall$45largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV3028.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$1.9Mper 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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$46+0.2%5d
Fri, Aug 28$46.5+1.3%12d
Fri, Sep 4$47+2.4%19d
Fri, Sep 11$45-2.0%26d
Fri, Sep 18$45-2.0%33d
Fri, Sep 25$46+0.2%40d
Fri, Oct 2$45-2.0%47d
Fri, Oct 16$45-2.0%61d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot45253545556575$126M$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 — 45 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot452532.54047.5557028K28K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NVO open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 16.

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, Oct 16

spot452532.54047.555701K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot28374756667566%30%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot2532.54047.55570+$873K$873K
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, Oct 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.0027.50.00170.00-0.00-0.01
1.00300.00310.01-0.00-0.01
1.00-0.0032.50.00270.00-0.00-0.02
0.98-0.01350.01340.01-0.00-0.03
0.94-0.0137.50.02040.03-0.01-0.07
0.87-0.01400.03630.04-0.01-0.14
0.74-0.0142.50.05410.06-0.02-0.27
0.59-0.02450.06540.07-0.02-0.43
0.43-0.0247.50.06550.07-0.02-0.60
0.29-0.02500.05600.07-0.02-0.75
0.18-0.0152.50.04270.05-0.01-0.87
0.12-0.01550.03050.04-0.01-0.94
0.06-0.01600.01570.02-0.00-0.99
0.03-0.01650.00920.010.00-1.00
0.02-0.00700.00600.01-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 17 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot22.53843.547515726K0
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

spot204147.55790155116K116K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 873K call contracts, 581K 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: NVO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk