Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 10:01 AM ET

CRDO max pain

Spot (delayed)$170.5
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$180+5.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$44.1±25.9% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.9918K puts / 18K calls
Call wall$300largest call OI
Put wall$150largest put OI
IV3081.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$558Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Oct 30$170-0.3%2d
Fri, Nov 6$180+5.6%9d
Fri, Nov 13$185+8.5%16d
Fri, Nov 20$177.5+4.1%23d
Fri, Nov 27$175+2.6%30d
Fri, Dec 4$160-6.2%37d
Fri, Dec 18$180+5.6%51d
Fri, Jan 15$150-12.0%79d
Fri, Feb 19$180+5.6%114d
Fri, Mar 19$200+17.3%142d
Fri, Apr 16$185+8.5%170d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot18085150215280345410$298M$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 — 180 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot180851251652102903703K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CRDO open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 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, Dec 18

spot18085125165210290370218218
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot85150215280345410105%79%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 87.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot85125165210290370+$333K−$333K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.80-0.151350.00500.18-0.15-0.21
0.77-0.161400.00540.20-0.17-0.24
0.73-0.171450.00590.21-0.18-0.27
0.70-0.181500.00620.22-0.19-0.30
0.66-0.191550.00660.23-0.20-0.34
0.63-0.201600.00680.24-0.20-0.38
0.59-0.201650.00700.25-0.20-0.41
0.56-0.211700.00710.25-0.21-0.45
0.52-0.211750.00720.25-0.21-0.48
0.49-0.211800.00720.25-0.21-0.52
0.46-0.211850.00720.25-0.21-0.55
0.42-0.201900.00710.25-0.20-0.58
0.39-0.201950.00700.24-0.20-0.61
0.36-0.202000.00680.24-0.20-0.64
0.31-0.182100.00640.22-0.18-0.70

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 45 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot100145162.5187.5212.52503K0
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

spot5010515519026036014K14K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 157K call contracts, 158K 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: CRDO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk