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

AMLX max pain

Spot (delayed)$21.5
Max pain · Fri, Dec 17$20-7.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$17.5±81.4% by Fri, Dec 17
Put/Call OI6.52365 puts / 56 calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$17largest put OI
IV30227.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $17

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

spot2031018253340$1M$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot2031317222735349349
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AMLX open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 17.

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 17

spot203131722273588
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot31018253340132%82%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 93.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spotflip 1731317222735+$2K$2K
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 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.9730.00150.01-0.00-0.02
0.89-0.00100.00620.04-0.01-0.10
0.85-0.01130.00820.06-0.01-0.14
0.82-0.01150.00960.06-0.01-0.17
0.79-0.01170.01090.07-0.01-0.20
0.74-0.01200.01270.08-0.01-0.25
0.71-0.01220.01380.08-0.01-0.28
0.67-0.01250.01520.09-0.01-0.33
0.64-0.01270.01600.09-0.01-0.37
0.59-0.01300.01700.10-0.01-0.42
0.52-0.01350.01820.10-0.01-0.49
0.46-0.01400.01870.10-0.01-0.57

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. 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