Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 2:47 PM ET

CRML max pain

Spot (delayed)$6.98
Max pain · Fri, Sep 25$6.5-6.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.88±26.9% by Fri, Sep 25
Put/Call OI0.3280 puts / 253 calls
Call wall$6.5largest call OI
Put wall$6.5largest put OI
IV3097.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $6

Event risk before this expiration: 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 14$7+0.3%today
Fri, Aug 21$10+43.3%7d
Fri, Aug 28$6.5-6.9%14d
Fri, Sep 4$6-14.0%21d
Fri, Sep 11$6.5-6.9%28d
Fri, Sep 18$7.5+7.4%35d
Fri, Sep 25$6.5-6.9%42d
Fri, Oct 2$10+43.3%49d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot6.55678911$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 — 6.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot6.556.57.58.59.510.5100100
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CRML open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 25.

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 25

spot6.556.57.58.59.510.57070
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot5678911116%99%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 99.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spotflip 656.57.58.59.5+$491$491
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 25

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.84-0.0150.08920.01-0.01-0.15
0.72-0.0160.14040.01-0.01-0.28
0.64-0.016.50.16040.01-0.01-0.36
0.55-0.0170.17030.01-0.01-0.44
0.47-0.017.50.16970.01-0.01-0.52
0.40-0.0180.16150.01-0.01-0.59
0.34-0.018.50.14940.01-0.01-0.65
0.29-0.0190.13590.01-0.01-0.70
0.25-0.019.50.12260.01-0.01-0.74
0.21-0.01100.11030.01-0.01-0.77
0.19-0.0110.50.09910.01-0.01-0.80

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

spot25811153040K0
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

spot1.558.512162556K56K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 208K call contracts, 109K 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: CRML workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk