Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 1:42 AM ET

ALDX max pain

Spot (delayed)$1.51
Max pain · Fri, Sep 4$1.5-0.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.23±15.2% by Fri, Sep 4
Put/Call OI0.0210 puts / 475 calls
Call wall$1.5largest call OI
Put wall$1.5largest put OI
IV3050.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$1.5-0.7%5d
Fri, Aug 28$1-33.8%12d
Fri, Sep 4$1.5-0.7%19d
Fri, Sep 11$1.5-0.7%26d
Fri, Sep 18$1-33.8%33d
Fri, Dec 18$2+32.5%124d
Fri, Mar 19$2+32.5%215d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1.5112233$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 — 1.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot1.50.51.523365365
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ALDX open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 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, Sep 4

spot1.50.51.523130130
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot1.523+$1K$1K
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, Sep 4

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.00-0.010.50.01750.00-0.00-0.02
0.44-0.001.51.23330.00-0.00-0.55
0.19-0.0020.55170.00-0.00-0.78
0.09-0.0030.22820.00-0.00-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot0.51.52.542K0
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

spot0.523.5694K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 11K call contracts, 778 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: ALDX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk