Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 3:26 PM ET

CRH max pain

Spot (delayed)$85.31
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$85-0.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.15±17.8% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.592K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$95largest call OI
Put wall$70largest put OI
IV3039.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$43Kper 1% move

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, Oct 30$81-5.1%3d
Fri, Nov 6$83-2.7%10d
Fri, Nov 13$85-0.4%17d
Fri, Nov 20$85-0.4%24d
Fri, Nov 27$79-7.4%31d
Fri, Dec 4$80-6.2%38d
Fri, Dec 18$90+5.5%52d
Fri, Jan 15$92.5+8.4%80d
Fri, Mar 19$85-0.4%143d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot85486787106126145$6M$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 — 85 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot8547.57082.595115888888
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CRH 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

spot8547.57082.59511511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot48678710612614558%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 35.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot47.57082.595115+$77K−$77K
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
0.90-0.01650.00850.10-0.01-0.11
0.84-0.02700.01190.13-0.02-0.17
0.81-0.0272.50.01370.15-0.02-0.20
0.77-0.02750.01560.16-0.02-0.24
0.72-0.0277.50.01730.18-0.02-0.28
0.68-0.02800.01890.19-0.02-0.33
0.63-0.0282.50.02020.20-0.03-0.38
0.57-0.03850.02110.21-0.03-0.44
0.52-0.0387.50.02160.21-0.03-0.49
0.47-0.03900.02170.21-0.03-0.55
0.42-0.0392.50.02130.21-0.03-0.60
0.37-0.02950.02070.20-0.03-0.65
0.33-0.0297.50.01970.19-0.02-0.70
0.29-0.021000.01850.18-0.02-0.74
0.22-0.021050.01590.16-0.02-0.82

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 25 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot65758187931002490
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

spot42.57282921021554K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 20K call contracts, 14K 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: CRH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk