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

ALGN max pain

Spot (delayed)$173.1
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$180+4.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$21.45±12.4% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.42252 puts / 594 calls
Call wall$185largest call OI
Put wall$145largest put OI
IV3036.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$122Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $180

Event risk before this expiration: 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 — 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

spot180100138176214252290$5M$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 — 180 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot1801001301551802102609696
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ALGN 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

spot18010013015518021026088
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot100138176214252290114%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 180100130155180210260+$34K$34K
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
0.92-0.021400.00460.11-0.03-0.08
0.90-0.031450.00590.13-0.04-0.10
0.86-0.041500.00740.17-0.05-0.14
0.81-0.051550.00900.20-0.06-0.19
0.76-0.061600.01050.23-0.07-0.24
0.70-0.071650.01180.26-0.08-0.30
0.64-0.081700.01290.28-0.08-0.37
0.57-0.081750.01370.29-0.09-0.44
0.50-0.091800.01400.29-0.09-0.51
0.43-0.081850.01400.29-0.08-0.58
0.36-0.081900.01360.28-0.08-0.65
0.30-0.071950.01270.26-0.07-0.71
0.24-0.072000.01150.23-0.06-0.77
0.16-0.052100.00880.18-0.04-0.86
0.12-0.042200.00660.15-0.04-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 29 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