Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 20, 2:22 AM ET

NVS max pain

Spot (delayed)$140.37
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$145+3.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$21.1±15.0% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI1.20625 puts / 519 calls
Call wall$145largest call OI
Put wall$135largest put OI
IV3021.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$7Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $175

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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 16$155+10.4%26d
Fri, Nov 20$155+10.4%61d
Fri, Dec 18$155+10.4%89d
Fri, Jan 15$160+14.0%117d
Fri, Apr 16$145+3.3%208d
Thu, Jun 17$170+21.1%270d
Fri, Dec 17$155+10.4%453d
Fri, Jan 21$150+6.9%488d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot14585108131154177200$3M$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 — 145 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot14585105125145165185158158
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NVS open contracts per strike for Fri, Apr 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, Apr 16

spot145851051251451651851111
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot8510813115417720036%16%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spotflip 17585105125145165185+$46K$46K
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, Apr 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.011050.00320.09-0.01-0.08
0.95-0.011100.00450.12-0.01-0.10
0.92-0.011150.00630.16-0.01-0.14
0.88-0.011200.00850.21-0.02-0.19
0.83-0.021250.01090.26-0.02-0.25
0.77-0.021300.01340.30-0.02-0.32
0.69-0.021350.01560.35-0.02-0.39
0.61-0.021400.01710.39-0.02-0.47
0.53-0.021450.01770.40-0.02-0.56
0.44-0.021500.01750.40-0.02-0.63
0.36-0.021550.01650.38-0.02-0.70
0.30-0.021600.01500.35-0.02-0.76
0.24-0.021650.01330.32-0.01-0.81
0.19-0.021700.01150.28-0.01-0.85
0.15-0.011750.00970.24-0.01-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot701201451701953K0
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

spot508011014017020010K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 35K call contracts, 78K 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: NVS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk