Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 5:33 AM ET

ALGT max pain

Spot (delayed)$86.45
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$50-42.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$28.25±32.7% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.21104 puts / 501 calls
Call wall$50largest call OI
Put wall$80largest put OI
IV3062.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$22Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $80

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 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · 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, Aug 21$100+15.7%7d
Fri, Sep 18$90+4.1%35d
Fri, Oct 16$55-36.4%63d
Fri, Jan 15$50-42.2%154d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot50406284106128150$3M$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 — 50 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot50406585105130150125125
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ALGT 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

spot5040658510513015055
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot40628410612815079%59%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 63.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 80406585105130150+$8K$8K
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
0.94-0.01450.00260.07-0.02-0.06
0.92-0.01500.00350.09-0.02-0.08
0.89-0.02550.00450.11-0.03-0.11
0.82-0.03650.00680.15-0.03-0.18
0.78-0.03700.00790.17-0.04-0.23
0.73-0.04750.00900.19-0.04-0.28
0.68-0.04800.00990.20-0.04-0.33
0.62-0.04850.01060.22-0.04-0.39
0.57-0.04900.01110.22-0.04-0.45
0.52-0.04950.01140.23-0.04-0.50
0.46-0.041000.01140.23-0.04-0.56
0.41-0.041050.01130.22-0.04-0.61
0.33-0.041150.01050.20-0.04-0.70
0.29-0.041200.00990.19-0.04-0.74
0.26-0.041250.00930.18-0.03-0.78

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot4065901151401754380
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

spot406590115140165438438
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 2K 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: ALGT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk