Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 17, 2:14 AM ET

NWE max pain

Spot (delayed)$74.72
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$75+0.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.78±7.7% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.036 puts / 178 calls
Call wall$85largest call OI
Put wall$75largest put OI
IV3021.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$22Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $75

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, Nov 20$75+0.4%34d
Fri, Dec 18$70-6.3%62d
Fri, Mar 19$65-13.0%153d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot75556269768390$1M$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 — 75 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot7555708090161161
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NWE 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

spot75557080902020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot55626976839065%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 31.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 7555708090+$18K−$18K
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
0.99-0.00550.00220.01-0.00-0.01
0.95-0.01650.01580.03-0.01-0.06
0.84-0.02700.04380.06-0.02-0.17
0.53-0.03750.08330.09-0.03-0.49
0.18-0.02800.05370.06-0.02-0.87
0.05-0.01850.01950.03-0.00-0.99
0.02-0.00900.00730.01—-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot457080901003210
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

spot45607590105321321
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 466 call contracts, 42 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: NWE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk