Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 6, 9:21 AM ET

ALC max pain

Spot (delayed)$70.38
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$62.5-11.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.15±14.4% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.172K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$67.5largest call OI
Put wall$60largest put OI
IV3038.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$44Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $50

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$70-0.5%15d
Fri, Sep 18$70-0.5%43d
Fri, Nov 20$62.5-11.2%106d
Fri, Dec 18$70-0.5%134d
Fri, Jan 15$65-7.6%162d
Fri, Feb 19$62.5-11.2%197d
Thu, Jun 17$77.5+10.1%315d
Fri, Dec 17$80+13.7%498d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot62.5455259667380$3M$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 — 62.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot62.5455562.57077.5576576
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ALC open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot62.5455562.57077.53939
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot45525966738051%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 50455562.57077.5+$49K$49K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.00500.00600.04-0.01-0.05
0.91-0.01550.01090.06-0.01-0.09
0.88-0.0157.50.01410.08-0.01-0.12
0.83-0.01600.01780.10-0.02-0.17
0.78-0.0162.50.02170.11-0.02-0.22
0.72-0.02650.02540.13-0.02-0.28
0.65-0.0267.50.02850.14-0.02-0.35
0.58-0.02700.03060.15-0.02-0.43
0.50-0.0272.50.03140.15-0.02-0.51
0.42-0.02750.03100.15-0.02-0.59
0.35-0.0277.50.02940.14-0.02-0.66
0.29-0.02800.02700.13-0.02-0.73

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot4557.567.577.587.51104500
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

spot32.547.56580951251K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 9K call contracts, 11K 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: ALC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk