Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 6, 10:02 AM ET

CRM max pain

Spot (delayed)$184
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$175-4.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$27.58±15.0% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.91115K puts / 126K calls
Call wall$175largest call OI
Put wall$165largest put OI
IV3054.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$8.8Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $200
Earnings · expectedWed, Sep 2usually after the close

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · 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 7$182.5-0.8%1d
Fri, Aug 14$180-2.2%8d
Fri, Aug 21$175-4.9%15d
Fri, Aug 28$190+3.3%22d
Fri, Sep 4$175-4.9%29d← 1st expiry after earnings (Wed, Sep 2)
Fri, Sep 11$185+0.5%36d
Fri, Sep 18$175-4.9%43d
Fri, Oct 16$175-4.9%71d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot17585152219286353420$2.7B$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 — 175 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot1758512516521029037046K46K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CRM 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

spot17585125165210290370673673
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot85152219286353420130%50%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 51.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 20085125165210290370+$12.7M$12.7M
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
0.93-0.051500.00380.09-0.06-0.07
0.91-0.061550.00480.11-0.07-0.10
0.87-0.081600.00590.14-0.08-0.13
0.84-0.091650.00710.17-0.10-0.17
0.79-0.111700.00830.19-0.11-0.21
0.75-0.121750.00940.21-0.13-0.26
0.69-0.131800.01030.23-0.14-0.31
0.64-0.141850.01110.25-0.14-0.37
0.58-0.151900.01150.26-0.15-0.43
0.52-0.151950.01170.27-0.15-0.48
0.46-0.152000.01170.27-0.15-0.54
0.36-0.142100.01090.25-0.14-0.65
0.27-0.132200.00960.22-0.12-0.74
0.19-0.112300.00790.18-0.10-0.81
0.14-0.092400.00630.15-0.08-0.87

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 46 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot85145167.5197.5227.531018K0
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

spot10014018021029037062K62K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 536K call contracts, 423K 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: CRM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk