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

AMLX max pain

Spot (delayed)$21.5
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$10-53.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.25±66.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.0135 puts / 3K calls
Call wall$18largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV30227.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$22Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $5

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 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 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

spot103916222935$4M$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 — 10 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot10310131722302K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AMLX open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 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, Dec 18

spot103101317223088
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot3916222935251%106%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 142.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 531013172230+$11K$11K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.88-0.02120.00950.03-0.02-0.13
0.86-0.02130.01050.03-0.02-0.15
0.83-0.02150.01260.04-0.02-0.19
0.81-0.02160.01360.04-0.02-0.21
0.79-0.03170.01470.04-0.03-0.23
0.77-0.03180.01570.04-0.03-0.25
0.73-0.03200.01760.04-0.03-0.29
0.69-0.03220.01940.05-0.03-0.33
0.62-0.03250.02160.05-0.03-0.40
0.58-0.03270.02290.05-0.03-0.45
0.51-0.03300.02420.05-0.03-0.51
0.47-0.03320.02480.05-0.03-0.56
0.40-0.02350.02500.05-0.03-0.62

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