Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 3:34 AM ET

ALAB max pain

Spot (delayed)$288.82
Max pain · Fri, Dec 4$295+2.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$64.7±22.4% by Fri, Dec 4
Put/Call OI4.61166 puts / 36 calls
Call wall$265largest call OI
Put wall$180largest put OI
IV3090.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$19Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $140

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 30$267.5-7.4%2d
Fri, Nov 6$300+3.9%9d
Fri, Nov 13$310+7.3%16d
Fri, Nov 20$270-6.5%23d
Fri, Nov 27$305+5.6%30d
Fri, Dec 4$295+2.1%37d
Fri, Dec 18$280-3.1%51d
Fri, Jan 15$190-34.2%79d
Fri, Mar 19$290+0.4%142d
Fri, Apr 16$300+3.9%170d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot295130187244301358415$1M$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 — 295 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spot295130210245275305360100100
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ALAB open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 4.

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 4

spot29513021024527530536077
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spot130187244301358415129%85%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 87.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spotflip 140130210245280320415+$10K−$10K
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 4

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.71-0.372550.00410.32-0.37-0.29
0.68-0.382600.00430.33-0.38-0.31
0.66-0.392650.00440.34-0.39-0.34
0.64-0.402700.00460.35-0.40-0.36
0.61-0.412750.00470.35-0.41-0.39
0.59-0.412800.00470.36-0.41-0.41
0.56-0.422850.00480.36-0.42-0.43
0.54-0.422900.00490.37-0.42-0.46
0.52-0.422950.00490.37-0.42-0.48
0.49-0.423000.00490.37-0.42-0.51
0.47-0.423050.00490.37-0.42-0.53
0.45-0.423100.00490.36-0.42-0.55
0.40-0.413200.00480.36-0.41-0.59
0.34-0.393350.00450.34-0.39-0.66
0.30-0.373450.00430.32-0.37-0.69

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 33 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot175252.5287.5322.53804453K0
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

spot551251952854005606K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 124K call contracts, 116K 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: ALAB workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk