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

ALGN max pain

Spot (delayed)$149.45
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$145-3.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$32.35±21.6% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.71430 puts / 603 calls
Call wall$160largest call OI
Put wall$125largest put OI
IV3041.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$58Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $160

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

spot14575118161204247290$7M$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 — 145 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot14575105135165195250205205
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ALGN open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

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, Mar 19

spot145751051351651952501010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot7511816120424729064%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 43.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 16075105135165195250+$45K−$45K
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.87-0.031150.00500.20-0.03-0.13
0.83-0.041200.00580.23-0.04-0.17
0.80-0.041250.00670.26-0.04-0.20
0.76-0.041300.00750.29-0.05-0.24
0.72-0.051350.00830.31-0.05-0.29
0.67-0.051400.00900.34-0.05-0.33
0.62-0.051450.00960.35-0.06-0.38
0.57-0.061500.01000.36-0.06-0.43
0.52-0.061550.01020.37-0.06-0.49
0.47-0.061600.01020.37-0.06-0.54
0.43-0.051650.01010.36-0.06-0.59
0.38-0.051700.00990.35-0.06-0.64
0.34-0.051750.00950.34-0.05-0.68
0.30-0.051800.00900.32-0.05-0.72
0.27-0.041850.00850.30-0.05-0.76

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 34 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