Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 8:27 PM ET

NXPI max pain

Spot (delayed)$245.83
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$250+1.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$58.45±23.8% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.502K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$440largest call OI
Put wall$300largest put OI
IV3055.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$422Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $250

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Nov 20$230-6.4%25d
Fri, Dec 18$240-2.4%53d
Fri, Jan 15$260+5.8%81d
Fri, Mar 19$250+1.7%144d
Fri, Apr 16$230-6.4%172d
Thu, Jun 17$260+5.8%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot250100178256334412490$77M$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 — 250 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot2501001451902703604501K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NXPI open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 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, Mar 19

spot2501001451902703604501010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot10017825633441249082%45%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 47.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 250100145190270360450+$138K−$138K
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.84-0.061900.00310.37-0.06-0.16
0.82-0.061950.00340.40-0.07-0.18
0.80-0.072000.00360.42-0.07-0.20
0.76-0.082100.00410.48-0.08-0.24
0.71-0.082200.00460.53-0.09-0.29
0.66-0.092300.00490.56-0.09-0.34
0.61-0.092400.00520.59-0.10-0.40
0.55-0.102500.00540.61-0.10-0.45
0.50-0.102600.00550.61-0.10-0.51
0.45-0.102700.00550.61-0.10-0.56
0.40-0.092800.00540.59-0.10-0.61
0.35-0.092900.00520.57-0.09-0.66
0.31-0.093000.00500.54-0.08-0.71
0.27-0.083100.00470.51-0.08-0.75
0.23-0.073200.00430.47-0.07-0.79

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 50 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot9514018526035044066K0
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

spot8012517023032041066K66K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 172K call contracts, 23K 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: NXPI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk