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

ALAB max pain

Spot (delayed)$288.82
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$280-3.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$73.28±25.4% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.0414K puts / 13K calls
Call wall$450largest call OI
Put wall$290largest put OI
IV3090.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$217Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $95

Event risk before this expiration: 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$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

spot28055184313442571700$468M$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 — 280 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot280551351852703704701K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ALAB 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

spot28055135185270370470113113
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot55184313442571700261%82%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 84.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 9595155210310410530+$282K−$282K
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
0.83-0.212200.00260.27-0.22-0.17
0.80-0.242300.00300.30-0.25-0.20
0.76-0.272400.00330.33-0.28-0.24
0.72-0.292500.00360.36-0.30-0.28
0.68-0.312600.00380.39-0.32-0.32
0.64-0.332700.00400.40-0.33-0.36
0.60-0.342800.00420.42-0.34-0.40
0.56-0.342900.00430.43-0.35-0.45
0.51-0.353000.00430.43-0.35-0.49
0.47-0.353100.00430.43-0.35-0.53
0.43-0.343200.00420.42-0.34-0.57
0.40-0.343300.00420.42-0.34-0.60
0.36-0.333400.00400.41-0.33-0.64
0.33-0.323500.00390.39-0.31-0.67
0.30-0.303600.00370.38-0.30-0.70

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 60 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