Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 11:38 PM ET

ALNY max pain

Spot (delayed)$230
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$230+0.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$31.2±13.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.263K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$240largest call OI
Put wall$200largest put OI
IV3062.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$347Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $190

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Nov 20$230+0.0%24d
Fri, Dec 18$240+4.3%52d
Fri, Jan 15$280+21.7%80d
Fri, Mar 19$250+8.7%143d
Thu, Jun 17$210-8.7%233d
Fri, Sep 17$320+39.1%325d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot230150188226264302340$25M$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 — 230 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot2301501752002503002K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ALNY 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

spot230150175200250300198198
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot150188226264302340112%59%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 65.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 190150175200250300+$615K−$615K
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
0.91-0.141800.00380.10-0.15-0.10
0.88-0.161850.00450.12-0.17-0.12
0.86-0.181900.00530.13-0.19-0.14
0.83-0.201950.00610.15-0.21-0.17
0.79-0.232000.00690.17-0.23-0.21
0.71-0.272100.00850.20-0.27-0.29
0.62-0.292200.00970.23-0.30-0.38
0.52-0.312300.01030.24-0.31-0.48
0.42-0.302400.01010.23-0.30-0.58
0.33-0.282500.00930.22-0.28-0.68
0.25-0.252600.00810.19-0.25-0.75
0.19-0.222700.00690.16-0.21-0.81
0.15-0.182800.00560.14-0.18-0.86
0.11-0.162900.00460.12-0.15-0.89
0.09-0.133000.00370.10-0.13-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 25 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1201802603604606204K0
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

spot1101602203204205404K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 24K call contracts, 16K 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: ALNY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk