Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 6, 2:58 AM ET

NVS max pain

Spot (delayed)$154.44
Max pain · Fri, Dec 17$155+0.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$34.8±22.5% by Fri, Dec 17
Put/Call OI2.132K puts / 772 calls
Call wall$145largest call OI
Put wall$155largest put OI
IV3027.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$137Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $70

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · 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 · 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, Aug 21$155+0.4%15d
Fri, Sep 18$155+0.4%43d
Fri, Oct 16$155+0.4%71d
Fri, Nov 20$155+0.4%106d
Fri, Dec 18$160+3.6%134d
Fri, Jan 15$160+3.6%162d
Thu, Jun 17$165+6.8%315d
Fri, Dec 17$155+0.4%498d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot15565100135170205240$12M$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 — 155 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot1556595120145170200331331
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NVS open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 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 · Fri, Dec 17

spot155659512014517020011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot6510013517020524040%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 24.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spotflip 706595120145170200+$80K$80K
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 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.86-0.011200.00480.40-0.01-0.15
0.84-0.011250.00550.45-0.01-0.18
0.81-0.011300.00620.50-0.01-0.22
0.77-0.011350.00680.54-0.01-0.26
0.73-0.011400.00750.59-0.02-0.30
0.69-0.011450.00810.62-0.02-0.35
0.65-0.011500.00860.66-0.02-0.39
0.61-0.011550.00890.68-0.02-0.44
0.56-0.011600.00920.69-0.02-0.49
0.52-0.011650.00940.70-0.02-0.54
0.48-0.021700.00940.70-0.02-0.59
0.44-0.011750.00930.69-0.01-0.64
0.40-0.011800.00910.68-0.01-0.68
0.36-0.011850.00890.66-0.01-0.72
0.29-0.011950.00820.61-0.01-0.79

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 29 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1001401601802004K0
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: 32K call contracts, 65K 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