Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 1:05 PM ET

ALGN max pain

Spot (delayed)$173.1
Max pain · Fri, Sep 11$170-1.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.5±8.4% by Fri, Sep 11
Put/Call OI1.28100 puts / 78 calls
Call wall$180largest call OI
Put wall$140largest put OI
IV3036.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$18Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $180

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$177.5+2.5%6d
Fri, Aug 28$160-7.6%13d
Fri, Sep 4$160-7.6%20d
Fri, Sep 11$170-1.8%27d
Fri, Sep 18$170-1.8%34d
Fri, Sep 25$175+1.1%41d
Fri, Oct 16$180+4.0%62d
Fri, Dec 18$155-10.5%125d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot170125142159176193210$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 — 170 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spot1701251401551701902055252
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ALGN open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 11.

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 11

spot17012514015517019020555
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spot125142159176193210105%28%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spotflip 180125140155170190205+$21K$21K
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 11

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.031350.00300.04-0.04-0.04
0.95-0.031400.00390.05-0.04-0.05
0.94-0.041450.00510.06-0.05-0.06
0.92-0.041500.00680.07-0.06-0.08
0.89-0.061550.00940.10-0.06-0.11
0.84-0.071600.01290.12-0.08-0.16
0.77-0.091650.01670.15-0.10-0.23
0.67-0.111700.01990.18-0.11-0.33
0.45-0.121800.02210.20-0.12-0.55
0.35-0.111850.02060.18-0.11-0.66
0.27-0.101900.01780.16-0.10-0.74
0.20-0.091950.01460.14-0.09-0.81
0.16-0.092000.01190.12-0.08-0.85
0.14-0.082050.00980.11-0.07-0.88
0.12-0.082100.00820.10-0.07-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 17 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot140170182.51952152404840
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

spot65120162.51902303203K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 16K call contracts, 13K 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: ALGN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk