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

ALGN max pain

Spot (delayed)$149.45
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$160+7.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$21.75±14.6% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.675K puts / 8K calls
Call wall$220largest call OI
Put wall$150largest put OI
IV3041.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$90Kper 1% move

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

spot16065128191254317380$126M$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 — 160 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot160651051451852503302K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ALGN open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot1606510514518525033022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot65128191254317380109%30%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot65105145185250330+$131K−$131K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.91-0.031150.00490.11-0.03-0.09
0.88-0.041200.00620.13-0.04-0.12
0.85-0.041250.00770.16-0.04-0.15
0.80-0.051300.00940.19-0.05-0.20
0.75-0.061350.01110.22-0.06-0.25
0.69-0.061400.01260.24-0.06-0.31
0.62-0.071450.01380.26-0.07-0.38
0.55-0.071500.01460.27-0.07-0.46
0.48-0.071550.01470.27-0.07-0.53
0.41-0.071600.01440.27-0.07-0.60
0.34-0.061650.01360.25-0.07-0.67
0.29-0.061700.01250.23-0.06-0.73
0.24-0.051750.01120.21-0.06-0.78
0.20-0.051800.00990.19-0.05-0.82
0.16-0.041850.00870.17-0.05-0.86

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