Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 28, 3:44 AM ET

AAL max pain

Spot (delayed)$13.78
Max pain · Fri, Sep 25$14.5+5.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.48±10.7% by Fri, Sep 25
Put/Call OI1.365K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$12largest put OI
IV3044.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$68Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $11.5
Earnings · expectedThu, Oct 22usually before the open

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 28$14+1.6%today
Fri, Sep 4$14+1.6%7d
Fri, Sep 11$14.5+5.2%14d
Fri, Sep 18$14+1.6%21d
Fri, Sep 25$14.5+5.2%28d
Fri, Oct 2$14+1.6%35d
Fri, Oct 16$14+1.6%49d
Fri, Nov 20$15+8.9%84d← 1st expiry after earnings (Thu, Oct 22)

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot14.55912161923$4M$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 — 14.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot14.551113151719.51K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AAL open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 25.

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, Sep 25

spot14.551113151719.5247247
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot91215172023171%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 46.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spotflip 11.551113151719.5+$43K$43K
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, Sep 25

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.0010.50.03600.00-0.00-0.04
0.95-0.00110.05400.00-0.00-0.05
0.92-0.0011.50.08150.01-0.01-0.08
0.87-0.01120.11920.01-0.01-0.13
0.80-0.0112.50.16260.01-0.01-0.21
0.70-0.01130.20210.01-0.01-0.30
0.59-0.0113.50.22740.01-0.01-0.42
0.47-0.01140.23260.01-0.01-0.53
0.36-0.0114.50.21870.01-0.01-0.64
0.27-0.01150.19140.01-0.01-0.74
0.20-0.0115.50.15740.01-0.01-0.82
0.14-0.01160.12410.01-0.01-0.87
0.10-0.0116.50.09650.01-0.01-0.91
0.08-0.01170.07540.01-0.00-0.94
0.06-0.0017.50.05970.01-0.00-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot510.513.516.519.52414K0
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

spot1913172127272K272K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 725K call contracts, 1.2M 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: AAL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk