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

CRNC max pain

Spot (delayed)$8.43
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$5-40.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.13±84.5% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.08161 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$12largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3072.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$5Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $3

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

spot51611152025$2M$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

spot514101725554554
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CRNC 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

spot5141017251010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot2711162025137%83%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 94.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spotflip 314101725+$2K$2K
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
1.0010.00260.00-0.00-0.02
1.000.0020.00640.01-0.00-0.04
0.98-0.0030.01080.01-0.00-0.07
0.94-0.0040.01570.02-0.00-0.10
0.91-0.0050.02070.02-0.00-0.14
0.80-0.0080.03350.03-0.00-0.26
0.72-0.00100.03900.04-0.00-0.34
0.66-0.00120.04240.04-0.00-0.41
0.57-0.00150.04450.04-0.00-0.51
0.53-0.00170.04480.04-0.00-0.57
0.47-0.00200.04410.04-0.00-0.64
0.44-0.00220.04330.04-0.00-0.68
0.40-0.00250.04180.04-0.00-0.74

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

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