Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 13, 11:30 PM ET

CRWD max pain

Spot (delayed)$259.86
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$145-44.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$51.25±19.7% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.16116K puts / 100K calls
Call wall$125largest call OI
Put wall$205largest put OI
IV3051.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$5.0Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $122.5
Earnings · expectedTue, Dec 1usually after the close

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Oct 16$225-13.4%3d
Fri, Oct 23$265+2.0%10d
Fri, Oct 30$260+0.1%17d
Fri, Nov 6$255-1.9%24d
Fri, Nov 13$260+0.1%31d
Fri, Nov 20$235-9.6%38d
Fri, Nov 27$245-5.7%45d
Fri, Dec 18$145-44.2%66d← 1st expiry after earnings (Tue, Dec 1)

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1452882137191246300$1.3B$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 — 145 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot14527.562.590120147.519011K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CRWD open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 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, Dec 18

spot14527.562.590120147.5190157157
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot2882137191246300224%43%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 58.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 122.597.5120137.5162.5200285+$1.8M−$1.8M
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.93-0.061850.00190.15-0.07-0.07
0.92-0.071900.00220.17-0.08-0.08
0.89-0.092000.00290.21-0.10-0.11
0.87-0.102050.00320.24-0.11-0.13
0.85-0.112100.00360.26-0.12-0.15
0.80-0.132200.00430.31-0.14-0.20
0.69-0.172400.00540.39-0.17-0.31
0.63-0.182500.00580.42-0.18-0.37
0.47-0.19277.50.00620.44-0.19-0.54
0.42-0.192850.00610.44-0.19-0.58
0.34-0.183000.00580.41-0.18-0.67

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 60 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot45140190240272.53109K0
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

spot3590125162.521527525K25K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 642K call contracts, 640K 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: CRWD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk