Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 11:37 PM ET

ALGT max pain

Spot (delayed)$68.59
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$65-5.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$16.5±24.1% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.64440 puts / 685 calls
Call wall$50largest call OI
Put wall$65largest put OI
IV3073.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$4Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $50

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Nov 20$75+9.3%24d
Fri, Dec 18$65-5.2%52d
Fri, Jan 15$65-5.2%80d
Fri, Apr 16$60-12.5%171d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot65406284106128150$4M$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 — 65 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot65406080100120140215215
■ 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

spot654060801001201402929
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot40628410612815091%60%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 63.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 50406080100120140+$17K−$17K
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
0.94-0.01400.00420.04-0.02-0.05
0.91-0.02450.00640.05-0.02-0.09
0.86-0.03500.00910.07-0.03-0.13
0.80-0.04550.01230.09-0.04-0.19
0.72-0.04600.01550.11-0.04-0.27
0.63-0.05650.01800.12-0.05-0.36
0.54-0.05700.01950.13-0.05-0.46
0.44-0.05750.01960.13-0.05-0.56
0.36-0.04800.01860.12-0.04-0.64
0.28-0.04850.01690.11-0.04-0.72
0.23-0.04900.01480.10-0.04-0.78
0.18-0.03950.01270.09-0.03-0.83
0.14-0.031000.01070.07-0.03-0.86
0.12-0.031050.00910.06-0.02-0.90

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot4060801001201401960
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

spot3560851101351601K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K 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 · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk