Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 12:54 AM ET

AOSL max pain

Spot (delayed)$21.88
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$27.5+25.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.43±24.8% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.314K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3087.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$60Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $15

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Nov 20$25+14.3%26d
Fri, Dec 18$27.5+25.7%54d
Fri, Mar 19$30+37.1%145d
Thu, Jun 17$30+37.1%235d
Fri, Jan 21$15-31.4%453d
Fri, Jan 19$12.5-42.9%817d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot27.5132436475970$9M$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 — 27.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot27.512.522.532.542.552.5651K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AOSL 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

spot27.512.522.532.542.552.56522
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot132436475970175%55%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 78.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 1512.522.532.542.552.565+$29K−$29K
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
0.95-0.0112.50.01180.01-0.01-0.05
0.90-0.01150.02310.01-0.01-0.10
0.80-0.0217.50.03810.02-0.02-0.19
0.68-0.02200.05160.03-0.02-0.32
0.53-0.0222.50.05810.03-0.02-0.47
0.40-0.02250.05630.03-0.02-0.60
0.29-0.0227.50.04940.03-0.02-0.71
0.21-0.02300.04100.03-0.02-0.79
0.16-0.0132.50.03300.02-0.02-0.85
0.12-0.01350.02620.02-0.01-0.89
0.09-0.0137.50.02090.01-0.01-0.92
0.07-0.01400.01660.01-0.01-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot12.522.532.542.552.5659800
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

spot12.522.532.542.552.5652K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 6K 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: AOSL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk