Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 12:38 AM ET

AMLX max pain

Spot (delayed)$21.5
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$19-11.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.75±68.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.0482 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$19largest put OI
IV30227.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$24Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $25

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$18-16.3%5d
Fri, Sep 18$21-2.3%33d
Fri, Nov 20$19-11.6%96d
Fri, Dec 18$10-53.5%124d
Fri, Jan 15$11-48.8%152d
Fri, Feb 19$3-86.0%187d
Fri, Mar 19$15-30.2%215d
Fri, Dec 17$20-7.0%488d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1971420273340$3M$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, Nov 20

spot19711151821301K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AMLX 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

spot197111518213022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot71420273340265%114%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 172.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 2571115182130+$15K$15K
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
0.86-0.03130.01080.03-0.03-0.15
0.82-0.03150.01300.03-0.03-0.19
0.81-0.03160.01400.03-0.03-0.21
0.79-0.03170.01510.03-0.03-0.23
0.76-0.03180.01610.04-0.03-0.25
0.74-0.03190.01710.04-0.03-0.27
0.72-0.03200.01810.04-0.03-0.29
0.70-0.03210.01900.04-0.04-0.32
0.68-0.03220.01990.04-0.04-0.34
0.61-0.04250.02230.04-0.04-0.41
0.50-0.03300.02490.04-0.03-0.52
0.39-0.03350.02550.04-0.03-0.64
0.29-0.03400.02420.04-0.03-0.74

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot512172227339K0
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

spot391521273312K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 35K call contracts, 28K 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: AMLX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk