Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 9:22 PM ET

ALSN max pain

Spot (delayed)$127.11
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$125-1.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$18.65±14.7% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.50169 puts / 338 calls
Call wall$140largest call OI
Put wall$135largest put OI
IV3031.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$51Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $120

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$115-9.5%4d
Fri, Sep 18$110-13.5%32d
Fri, Nov 20$125-1.7%95d
Fri, Dec 18$110-13.5%123d
Fri, Feb 19$115-9.5%186d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1256086112138164190$2M$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 — 125 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1256085110135160185121121
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ALSN 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

spot125608511013516018522
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot608611213816419095%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 1206085110135160185+$31K$31K
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
0.94-0.01900.00380.08-0.02-0.06
0.92-0.02950.00510.10-0.02-0.08
0.89-0.021000.00670.12-0.03-0.11
0.85-0.031050.00870.15-0.03-0.15
0.80-0.031100.01110.18-0.04-0.20
0.74-0.041150.01350.21-0.04-0.26
0.66-0.041200.01560.23-0.04-0.34
0.58-0.041250.01700.25-0.05-0.42
0.49-0.051300.01740.26-0.05-0.51
0.41-0.051350.01690.25-0.04-0.59
0.34-0.041400.01570.23-0.04-0.67
0.28-0.041450.01410.21-0.04-0.73
0.23-0.041500.01240.19-0.04-0.78
0.18-0.031550.01070.17-0.03-0.83
0.15-0.031600.00920.15-0.03-0.86

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 27 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot701051251451651856260
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

spot4575105135165195666666
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 779 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: ALSN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk