Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:10 PM ET

NVTS max pain

Spot (delayed)$8.44
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$10+18.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.84±21.7% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.4312K puts / 27K calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$8largest put OI
IV3094.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $6

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 30$10+18.5%5d
Fri, Nov 6$11+30.3%12d
Fri, Nov 13$10.5+24.4%19d
Fri, Nov 20$10+18.5%26d
Fri, Nov 27$9.5+12.6%33d
Fri, Dec 4$8-5.2%40d
Fri, Dec 18$14+65.9%54d
Fri, Jan 15$10+18.5%82d
Fri, Mar 19$10+18.5%145d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot103610131720$17M$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 — 10 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot10379.51214.5198K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NVTS open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot10379.51214.519371371
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot3610131720257%83%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 98.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 6379.51214.519+$34K−$34K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.0040.01200.00-0.00-0.01
0.96-0.0050.03140.00-0.00-0.04
0.90-0.0160.06960.00-0.01-0.10
0.85-0.016.50.09570.01-0.01-0.15
0.79-0.0170.12360.01-0.01-0.21
0.72-0.017.50.14920.01-0.01-0.29
0.63-0.0180.16830.01-0.01-0.37
0.54-0.028.50.17810.01-0.02-0.46
0.46-0.0290.17810.01-0.02-0.55
0.38-0.019.50.17010.01-0.01-0.63
0.31-0.01100.15660.01-0.01-0.70
0.25-0.0110.50.14030.01-0.01-0.76
0.20-0.01110.12310.01-0.01-0.80
0.17-0.0111.50.10660.01-0.01-0.84
0.13-0.01120.09140.01-0.01-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 27 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot47.51012.515185K0
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

spot0.56.512.520324432K32K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 355K call contracts, 127K 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: NVTS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk