Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 1:40 AM ET

AYI max pain

Spot (delayed)$358.43
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$340-5.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$49.65±13.9% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.83357 puts / 430 calls
Call wall$360largest call OI
Put wall$320largest put OI
IV3027.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$62Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $165

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$320-10.7%4d
Fri, Sep 18$340-5.1%32d
Fri, Nov 20$340-5.1%95d
Fri, Feb 19$340-5.1%186d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot340155216277338399460$6M$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 — 340 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot340155200260310360410120120
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AYI 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

spot34015520026031036041011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot15521627733839946092%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 165155200260310360410+$44K$44K
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
0.88-0.072900.00270.37-0.07-0.12
0.85-0.083000.00320.43-0.08-0.15
0.82-0.093100.00380.49-0.09-0.18
0.78-0.103200.00450.56-0.10-0.23
0.73-0.113300.00510.62-0.11-0.28
0.67-0.123400.00570.67-0.12-0.33
0.61-0.123500.00620.71-0.12-0.39
0.55-0.123600.00650.73-0.13-0.46
0.48-0.123700.00660.74-0.13-0.53
0.42-0.123800.00650.73-0.13-0.59
0.36-0.113900.00620.70-0.12-0.66
0.30-0.114000.00580.65-0.11-0.71
0.26-0.104100.00540.60-0.11-0.77
0.21-0.094200.00480.55-0.10-0.81
0.18-0.084300.00430.49-0.09-0.85

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 30 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1552603103604104602660
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

spot155190250320390460266266
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 976 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: AYI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk