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

NVS max pain

Spot (delayed)$140.37
Max pain · Thu, Jun 17$170+21.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$24.35±17.3% by Thu, Jun 17
Put/Call OI2.265K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$170largest call OI
Put wall$160largest put OI
IV3021.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$706Kper 1% move

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

spot1706598131164197230$50M$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 — 170 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot17065110135160185220930930
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NVS open contracts per strike for Thu, Jun 17.

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 · Thu, Jun 17

spot1706511013516018522077
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot659813116419723042%19%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot65115140165190230+$201K$201K
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 · Thu, Jun 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.011050.00370.12-0.01-0.09
0.93-0.011100.00510.17-0.01-0.12
0.90-0.011150.00680.22-0.01-0.16
0.86-0.011200.00880.27-0.02-0.20
0.81-0.011250.01080.33-0.02-0.26
0.74-0.021300.01270.38-0.02-0.32
0.68-0.021350.01420.42-0.02-0.39
0.60-0.021400.01520.45-0.02-0.47
0.53-0.021450.01550.46-0.02-0.54
0.45-0.021500.01530.46-0.02-0.61
0.38-0.021550.01460.45-0.02-0.68
0.32-0.021600.01350.42-0.02-0.73
0.27-0.021650.01230.39-0.01-0.78
0.22-0.011700.01100.35-0.01-0.83
0.18-0.011750.00970.32-0.01-0.86

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 27 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