Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 3:08 AM ET

CRWL max pain

Spot (delayed)$95.35
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$55-42.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$36.55±38.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.65413 puts / 640 calls
Call wall$85largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV30118.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$27Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $75

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Nov 20$89-6.7%26d
Fri, Dec 18$55-42.3%54d
Fri, Mar 19$45-52.8%145d
Thu, Jun 17$80-16.1%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot55104070100130160$5M$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 — 55 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot551022335385130112112
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CRWL 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

spot5510223353851301414
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot104070100130160325%121%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 125.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 751525355485125+$7K−$7K
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
0.87-0.10600.00480.07-0.09-0.13
0.83-0.12650.00550.09-0.11-0.16
0.79-0.13700.00620.10-0.12-0.20
0.75-0.14750.00680.11-0.13-0.24
0.71-0.15800.00730.12-0.14-0.28
0.67-0.15850.00780.13-0.15-0.32
0.62-0.16900.00810.14-0.15-0.36
0.58-0.16950.00840.14-0.16-0.41
0.54-0.171000.00860.14-0.16-0.45
0.50-0.161050.00860.15-0.16-0.48
0.46-0.161100.00860.14-0.16-0.52
0.42-0.161150.00850.14-0.16-0.56
0.39-0.151200.00830.14-0.15-0.59
0.35-0.151250.00810.14-0.15-0.63
0.32-0.141300.00780.13-0.14-0.66

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 52 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot22568089991401700
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

spot1730608395120172172
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 1K 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: CRWL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk