Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 30, 2:41 PM ET

ALGN max pain

Spot (delayed)$149.45
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$155+3.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$18.05±12.1% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.474K puts / 9K calls
Call wall$165largest call OI
Put wall$125largest put OI
IV3041.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.6Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $165

Event risk before this expiration: 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 30$148-1.0%today
Fri, Nov 6$150+0.4%7d
Fri, Nov 13$145-3.0%14d
Fri, Nov 20$152.5+2.0%21d
Fri, Nov 27$144-3.6%28d
Fri, Dec 4$145-3.0%35d
Fri, Dec 18$155+3.7%49d
Fri, Jan 15$160+7.1%77d
Fri, Mar 19$145-3.0%140d
Fri, Apr 16$155+3.7%168d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot15565128191254317380$169M$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 — 155 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot155651051451852503305K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ALGN open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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, Dec 18

spot155651051451852503301717
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot65128191254317380150%27%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 41.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 16565105145185250330+$1.8M−$1.8M
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.94-0.031150.00440.07-0.03-0.06
0.92-0.041200.00590.09-0.04-0.08
0.88-0.051250.00780.11-0.05-0.12
0.84-0.061300.01020.13-0.06-0.16
0.78-0.071350.01280.16-0.07-0.22
0.71-0.081400.01540.19-0.08-0.29
0.63-0.081450.01750.21-0.08-0.38
0.54-0.091500.01860.22-0.09-0.47
0.44-0.091550.01860.22-0.09-0.56
0.36-0.081600.01750.20-0.08-0.65
0.28-0.071650.01580.19-0.07-0.72
0.22-0.061700.01360.16-0.07-0.79
0.17-0.061750.01150.14-0.06-0.84
0.13-0.051800.00940.12-0.05-0.89
0.10-0.041850.00760.10-0.04-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 46 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot80130145152.5167.51901K0
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

spot65110135157.51902605K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 23K call contracts, 19K 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 · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk