Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 6:15 PM ET

NXE max pain

Spot (delayed)$10.29
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$11+7.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.45±33.5% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI1.375K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$11largest call OI
Put wall$9largest put OI
IV3059.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$7Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7

Event risk before this expiration: 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$10-2.8%3d
Fri, Sep 18$11+7.0%31d
Fri, Oct 16$10-2.8%59d
Fri, Nov 20$11+7.0%94d
Fri, Dec 18$11+7.0%122d
Fri, Jan 15$10-2.8%150d
Fri, Feb 19$11+7.0%185d
Fri, Jan 21$10-2.8%521d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot115811131619$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 — 11 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot11581114194K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NXE open contracts per strike for Fri, Feb 19.

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, Feb 19

spot11581114193131
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot581113161976%59%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 60.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 758111419+$33K$33K
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, Feb 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.940.0050.01900.01-0.00-0.05
0.91-0.0060.03060.01-0.00-0.09
0.86-0.0070.04530.02-0.00-0.14
0.79-0.0080.06120.02-0.00-0.21
0.71-0.0090.07540.03-0.00-0.29
0.62-0.00100.08540.03-0.00-0.38
0.54-0.00110.09010.03-0.00-0.47
0.46-0.00120.09000.03-0.00-0.55
0.38-0.00130.08640.03-0.00-0.63
0.32-0.00140.08060.03-0.00-0.69
0.27-0.00150.07360.02-0.00-0.75
0.19-0.00170.05940.02-0.00-0.84
0.14-0.00190.04680.02-0.00-0.90

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

spot1610141819K0
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

spot15913172543K43K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 147K call contracts, 112K 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: NXE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk