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

ALMU max pain

Spot (delayed)$18.49
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$15-18.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.65±52.2% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.382K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV30128.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$27Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $10

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 — 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

spot1531120283745$9M$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot152.510152035679679
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ALMU open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot152.5101520352828
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot31120283745240%111%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 128.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 102.510152035+$7K$7K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.89-0.01100.01550.02-0.01-0.11
0.86-0.01110.01810.02-0.01-0.13
0.81-0.0212.50.02180.03-0.02-0.18
0.76-0.02140.02500.03-0.02-0.23
0.73-0.02150.02670.03-0.02-0.26
0.70-0.02160.02820.03-0.02-0.29
0.65-0.0217.50.02980.04-0.02-0.34
0.60-0.02190.03090.04-0.02-0.38
0.57-0.02200.03140.04-0.02-0.41
0.51-0.0322.50.03180.04-0.03-0.48
0.45-0.03250.03130.04-0.03-0.54
0.35-0.02300.02900.04-0.02-0.64
0.28-0.02350.02590.03-0.02-0.71
0.22-0.02400.02270.03-0.02-0.77
0.17-0.02450.01970.02-0.02-0.82

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 19 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