Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 20, 12:42 AM ET

ALC max pain

Spot (delayed)$65.04
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$75+15.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$17.3±26.6% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.932K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$75largest call OI
Put wall$75largest put OI
IV3023.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$31Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $35

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Oct 16$72.5+11.5%26d
Fri, Nov 20$67.5+3.8%61d
Fri, Dec 18$70+7.6%89d
Fri, Jan 15$65-0.1%117d
Fri, Feb 19$60-7.7%152d
Thu, Jun 17$75+15.3%270d
Fri, Dec 17$77.5+19.2%453d
Fri, Jan 21$75+15.3%488d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7533506885103120$8M$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 — 75 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot7532.5506577.590110692692
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ALC open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 21.

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 21

spot7532.5506577.59011044
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot3350688510312041%26%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 28.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spotflip 3532.5506577.590110+$17K$17K
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 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.90-0.00450.00690.13-0.01-0.10
0.88-0.0047.50.00810.15-0.01-0.13
0.85-0.00500.00950.17-0.01-0.15
0.79-0.01550.01240.21-0.01-0.22
0.76-0.0157.50.01380.23-0.01-0.26
0.72-0.01600.01510.25-0.01-0.30
0.68-0.0162.50.01630.27-0.01-0.35
0.63-0.01650.01730.28-0.01-0.40
0.59-0.0167.50.01800.29-0.01-0.45
0.55-0.01700.01850.30-0.01-0.50
0.51-0.0172.50.01880.30-0.01-0.55
0.46-0.01750.01880.30-0.01-0.61
0.42-0.0177.50.01850.29-0.01-0.66
0.39-0.01800.01810.29-0.01-0.71
0.35-0.0182.50.01750.28-0.01-0.76

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 28 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot37.55062.572.582.592.59370
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

spot32.547.56580951252K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 13K call contracts, 14K 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