Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 22, 6:35 AM ET

ALG max pain

Spot (delayed)$164.87
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$140-15.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.3±6.2% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.332 puts / 6 calls
Call wall$175largest call OI
Put wall$135largest put OI
IV3028.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $175
Earnings · expectedThu, Nov 5usually after the close

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 16$140-15.1%24d
Fri, Dec 18$150-9.0%87d← 1st expiry after earnings (Thu, Nov 5)
Fri, Mar 19$155-6.0%178d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot140135148161174187200$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 — 140 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot14013514017520055
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ALG open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 16.

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, Oct 16

spot14013514017520011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot13514816117418720076%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 29.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 175135140175200+$3K$3K
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, Oct 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.021350.00380.03-0.03-0.03
0.95-0.031400.00600.04-0.04-0.05
0.24-0.081750.02510.14-0.08-0.77
0.03-0.022000.00390.03-0.03-1.00

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

spot150160180195210160
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

spot1001251501752002502828
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 40 call contracts, 63 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: ALG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk