Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 2:41 AM ET

CMRE max pain

Spot (delayed)$14.44
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$16+10.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.38±9.5% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.48996 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$17largest call OI
Put wall$14largest put OI
IV3032.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $12

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$15+3.9%6d
Fri, Sep 18$16+10.8%34d
Fri, Dec 18$16+10.8%125d
Fri, Mar 19$16+10.8%216d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot16101316192225$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 — 16 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot16101316192225423423
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CMRE open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 18.

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, Sep 18

spot1610131619222511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot111417192225135%15%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 12101316192225+$20K$20K
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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.00100.02990.01-0.01-0.05
0.93-0.01110.04670.01-0.01-0.07
0.89-0.01120.07720.01-0.01-0.11
0.83-0.01130.13760.01-0.01-0.18
0.67-0.01140.24750.02-0.01-0.34
0.41-0.01150.24840.02-0.01-0.60
0.27-0.01160.16590.01-0.01-0.75
0.20-0.01170.11600.01-0.01-0.82
0.16-0.01180.08680.01-0.01-0.86
0.13-0.01190.06830.01-0.01-0.88
0.11-0.01200.05580.01-0.01-0.90
0.10-0.01210.04680.01-0.01-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1013161922251K0
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

spot7111519231K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 4K 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: CMRE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk