Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 1:48 AM ET

AMPY max pain

Spot (delayed)$4.91
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$4-18.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.43±29.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.10773 puts / 8K calls
Call wall$7largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV3050.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$30Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $3

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$4-18.5%3d
Fri, Sep 18$4-18.5%31d
Fri, Oct 16$4-18.5%59d
Fri, Jan 15$4-18.5%150d
Fri, Jan 21$3-38.9%521d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot41356810$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 — 4 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot4135795K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AMPY open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot413579226226
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1356810187%53%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 57.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 313579+$21K$21K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.980.0010.01020.00-0.00-0.02
0.95-0.0020.02990.00-0.00-0.05
0.90-0.0030.07680.01-0.00-0.10
0.77-0.0040.16590.01-0.00-0.23
0.55-0.0050.22150.01-0.00-0.45
0.37-0.0060.20280.01-0.00-0.64
0.25-0.0070.16220.01-0.00-0.77
0.17-0.0080.12470.01-0.00-0.85
0.12-0.0090.09500.01-0.00-0.91
0.09-0.00100.07240.01-0.00-0.96

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

spot135793K0
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

spot135796K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 17K call contracts, 4K 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: AMPY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk