Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 11:10 PM ET

CRMD max pain

Spot (delayed)$7.57
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$5-33.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.3±56.8% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.25731 puts / 3K calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$8largest put OI
IV3046.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$8Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Aug 21$8+5.7%5d
Fri, Sep 18$8+5.7%33d
Fri, Dec 18$9+18.9%124d
Fri, Jan 15$8+5.7%152d
Fri, Mar 19$8+5.7%215d
Fri, Jan 21$5-33.9%523d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot53712162125$4M$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot538121722734734
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CRMD open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 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, Jan 21

spot5381217225151
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot371216212595%52%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 59.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spotflip 538121722+$3K$3K
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, Jan 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.970.0030.01720.01-0.00-0.05
0.87-0.0050.04210.02-0.00-0.16
0.68-0.0080.06580.03-0.00-0.37
0.56-0.00100.07040.04-0.00-0.50
0.47-0.00120.06990.04-0.00-0.61
0.36-0.00150.06460.03-0.00-0.75
0.31-0.00170.05990.03-0.00-0.83
0.24-0.00200.05260.03-0.00-0.93
0.21-0.00220.04800.03-0.00-0.97
0.17-0.00250.04170.02-0.00-1.00

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

spot15913177K0
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

spot1591317258K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 27K call contracts, 17K 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: CRMD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk