Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 4:46 PM ET

ALMU max pain

Spot (delayed)$18.49
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$19+2.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.73±31.0% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.42347 puts / 831 calls
Call wall$22.5largest call OI
Put wall$7.5largest put OI
IV30128.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$11Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $20

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$17.5-5.4%6d
Fri, Sep 18$19+2.8%34d
Fri, Nov 20$15-18.9%97d
Fri, Feb 19$10-45.9%188d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1981319243035$1M$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 — 19 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot197.512.5162030340340
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ALMU open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 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, Sep 18

spot197.512.51620309292
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot81319243035227%100%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 124.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 207.512.5162030+$6K$6K
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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.0190.00940.01-0.01-0.04
0.92-0.02110.01820.01-0.02-0.08
0.87-0.0212.50.02660.01-0.02-0.13
0.81-0.03140.03520.02-0.03-0.19
0.76-0.03150.04060.02-0.03-0.23
0.71-0.04160.04520.02-0.04-0.29
0.63-0.0417.50.05060.02-0.04-0.36
0.55-0.04190.05350.02-0.04-0.45
0.50-0.04200.05430.02-0.04-0.50
0.38-0.0422.50.05240.02-0.04-0.62
0.28-0.04250.04680.02-0.04-0.71
0.15-0.02300.03210.01-0.02-0.85
0.07-0.01350.01950.01-0.01-0.93

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.5101417.522.5354K0
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

spot2.591419304K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 13K call contracts, 5K 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: ALMU workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk