Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 1:10 AM ET

CRC max pain

Spot (delayed)$53.31
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$52.5-1.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.76±5.2% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.13106 puts / 792 calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3036.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$84Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $52.5

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$52.5-1.5%4d
Fri, Sep 18$55+3.2%32d
Fri, Oct 16$55+3.2%60d
Fri, Dec 18$50-6.2%123d
Fri, Jan 15$50-6.2%151d
Fri, Apr 16$45-15.6%242d
Fri, Jul 16$32.5-39.0%333d
Fri, Dec 17$50-6.2%487d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot52.5384451576470$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 — 52.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot52.537.54552.56070378378
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CRC open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 21.

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, Aug 21

spot52.537.54552.5607033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot384451576470178%42%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 46.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 52.537.54552.56070+$61K$61K
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, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.00-0.0037.50.00120.00-0.00-0.00
0.99-0.01400.00240.00-0.01-0.01
0.99-0.0142.50.00510.00-0.01-0.01
0.98-0.01450.01140.00-0.01-0.02
0.95-0.0347.50.02720.01-0.03-0.05
0.87-0.05500.06760.02-0.05-0.13
0.63-0.0752.50.14100.03-0.07-0.37
0.28-0.07550.12580.03-0.07-0.72
0.10-0.0457.50.05780.01-0.04-0.90
0.04-0.02600.02560.01-0.02-0.96
0.02-0.0162.50.01240.00-0.01-0.98
0.01-0.01650.00660.00-0.01-0.99
0.00-0.00700.00230.00-0.00-1.00

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

spot4052.56067.580954040
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

spot22.53547.56072.5901K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 1K 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: CRC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk