Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 12, 11:26 AM ET

CRNC max pain

Spot (delayed)$8.43
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$6-28.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.65±55.2% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.54182 puts / 340 calls
Call wall$8largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV3072.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $8

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$10+18.6%8d
Fri, Sep 18$8-5.1%36d
Fri, Nov 20$10+18.6%99d
Fri, Dec 18$10+18.6%127d
Fri, Jan 15$10+18.6%155d
Fri, Feb 19$6-28.8%190d
Fri, Jan 21$5-40.7%526d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot63712162125$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 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot637111520125125
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CRNC open contracts per strike for Fri, Feb 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, Feb 19

spot6371115201515
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot3712162125201%68%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 100.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 837111520+$580$580
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, Feb 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.94-0.0030.01460.01-0.00-0.05
0.91-0.0040.02410.01-0.00-0.09
0.86-0.0050.03540.01-0.00-0.13
0.80-0.0060.04720.02-0.00-0.19
0.73-0.0070.05760.02-0.01-0.26
0.66-0.0180.06530.02-0.01-0.33
0.59-0.0190.07000.02-0.01-0.40
0.53-0.01100.07190.02-0.01-0.47
0.47-0.01110.07170.02-0.01-0.53
0.42-0.01120.07010.02-0.01-0.58
0.38-0.01130.06770.02-0.01-0.63
0.34-0.01140.06470.02-0.00-0.67
0.31-0.01150.06150.02-0.00-0.70

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 20 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot171217226K0
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

spot17131925377K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 25K call contracts, 7K 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: CRNC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk