Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 3:17 PM ET

CRWV max pain

Spot (delayed)$57.42
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$75+30.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$17.18±29.9% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.26226K puts / 180K calls
Call wall$80largest call OI
Put wall$37.5largest put OI
IV30107.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$4.4Mper 1% move

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, Oct 30$65+13.2%4d
Fri, Nov 6$72+25.4%11d
Fri, Nov 13$68+18.4%18d
Fri, Nov 20$70+21.9%25d
Fri, Nov 27$65+13.2%32d
Fri, Dec 4$65+13.2%39d
Fri, Dec 18$75+30.6%53d
Fri, Jan 15$80+39.3%81d
Fri, Feb 19$75+30.6%116d
Fri, Mar 19$80+39.3%144d
Fri, Apr 16$75+30.6%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7554483122161200$1.6B$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 — 75 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot75542.57092.513017543K43K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CRWV 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

spot75542.57092.51301752K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot54483122161200252%98%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 100.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot542.57092.5130175+$1.6M−$1.6M
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
0.92-0.03350.00620.03-0.04-0.09
0.89-0.0437.50.00770.04-0.04-0.11
0.86-0.04400.00920.05-0.05-0.14
0.83-0.0542.50.01080.06-0.05-0.17
0.80-0.06450.01240.06-0.06-0.20
0.76-0.0647.50.01390.07-0.07-0.24
0.71-0.07500.01520.07-0.07-0.29
0.63-0.08550.01720.08-0.08-0.38
0.54-0.08600.01820.09-0.08-0.47
0.49-0.0862.50.01840.09-0.08-0.51
0.45-0.08650.01830.09-0.08-0.55
0.41-0.0867.50.01800.09-0.08-0.59
0.38-0.08700.01750.08-0.07-0.63
0.34-0.0772.50.01690.08-0.07-0.66
0.31-0.07750.01630.08-0.07-0.70

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 51 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot154961.571849725K0
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

spot54562.579110165198K198K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1.8M call contracts, 2.0M 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: CRWV workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk