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

ALC max pain

Spot (delayed)$70.38
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$65-7.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10±14.2% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.671K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$85largest call OI
Put wall$55largest put OI
IV3038.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$69Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $77.5

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 · 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, 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

spot653851657892105$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 — 65 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot6537.5506577.590475475
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ALC open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot6537.5506577.59011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot385165789210549%26%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 77.537.5506577.590+$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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.94-0.00500.00670.06-0.01-0.06
0.89-0.01550.01100.09-0.01-0.11
0.86-0.0157.50.01360.11-0.01-0.14
0.82-0.01600.01650.13-0.01-0.18
0.77-0.0162.50.01950.14-0.01-0.23
0.71-0.01650.02230.16-0.02-0.29
0.66-0.0167.50.02470.17-0.02-0.35
0.59-0.02700.02650.18-0.02-0.42
0.52-0.0272.50.02740.19-0.02-0.49
0.46-0.02750.02750.19-0.02-0.56
0.39-0.0277.50.02670.18-0.02-0.63
0.34-0.01800.02530.17-0.02-0.69
0.28-0.0182.50.02340.16-0.01-0.75
0.24-0.01850.02120.15-0.01-0.81
0.20-0.0187.50.01900.13-0.01-0.85

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 25 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