What is AAL max pain this week?

AAL max pain for the nearest expiration (2026-08-21) is $15.00. Total call open interest: 150,369. Total put open interest: 162,275.

What is max pain in options?

Max pain is the strike price where option holders (buyers of both puts and calls) would collectively lose the most money at expiration. It represents the point of maximum financial pain for option buyers, and theory suggests stock prices tend to gravitate toward max pain as expiration approaches.

Home Options AALMax Pain

AAL

American Airlines Group, Inc.Close $14.05EOD only

Max Pain

$15.00

Next expiry Aug 21, 2026

Expected Move

±$0.45

3.2% from close

Price Gap

+0.95

Distance to max pain

IV Rank

Low premium

P/C OI

1.63

Slightly put-heavy

Consensus

4/4

Partial coverage

Published snapshot: Aug 18, 2026 close

End-of-day snapshot

This page reflects AAL options positioning from the latest published market-close snapshot. Intraday price and contract changes are not displayed.

Published Snapshot

Aug 18, 2026 close

Max Pain — AAL

Data as of market close Aug 18, 2026

Open Available Reports (4/4)

Nearest listed expiration 2026-08-21 shows max pain at $15.00 (0.95 above spot). Use this page to evaluate pin-risk zones, strike pressure, and open-interest concentration before selecting trade structure.

Max Pain Strike

$15.00

Nearest expiry

Expected Move

±$0.45

±3.2%

Days to Expiry

Calendar days

Total Call OI

150,369

Nearest expiry

Total Put OI

162,275

Nearest expiry

P/C OI Ratio

1.08

Put-heavy

Spot Price

$14.05

Published close

Consensus

Open report for full read

Max Pain by Expiration

Pain by Strike

Drill into expiration

Selected: 2026-08-21

Expiration	Max Pain Strike	Last Updated
2026-08-07	$16.00	8/7/2026, 11:01:00 PM
2026-08-14	$15.00	8/14/2026, 11:00:58 PM
2026-08-21NextUpdated	$15.00	8/18/2026, 11:00:59 PM
2026-08-28	$15.00	8/18/2026, 11:00:59 PM
2026-09-04	$15.00	8/18/2026, 11:00:59 PM
2026-09-11	$15.00	8/18/2026, 11:00:59 PM
2026-09-18	$14.00	8/18/2026, 11:00:59 PM
2026-09-25	$15.00	8/18/2026, 11:00:59 PM
2026-10-02	$16.00	8/18/2026, 11:00:59 PM
2026-11-20	$15.00	8/18/2026, 11:00:59 PM
2026-12-18	$14.00	8/18/2026, 11:00:59 PM
2027-01-15	$15.00	8/18/2026, 11:00:59 PM
2027-02-19	$16.00	8/18/2026, 11:00:59 PM
2027-03-19	$15.00	8/18/2026, 11:00:59 PM
2027-06-17	$15.00	8/18/2026, 11:00:59 PM

Selected expiration: 2026-08-21 at max pain $15.00.

AAL pain by strike for 2026-08-21 expiration
Strike	Call Pain	Put Pain	Total Pain
5	0	118595700	118595700
6	8900	102411900	102420800
7	20600	86263400	86284000
8	35500	70168500	70204000
9	74200	54300400	54374600
9.5	106950	47271650	47378600
10	140150	40243000	40383150
10.5	201400	33843500	34044900
11	263150	28181550	28444700
11.5	389400	23061200	23450600
12	519000	17947750	18466750
12.5	798050	13703750	14501800
13	1080400	9547650	10628050
13.5	1692400	6994300	8686700
14	2324550	4592600	6917150
14.5	3256450	2904950	6161400
15	4353250	1657850	6011100
15.5	6642400	1040300	7682700
16	9128050	515300	9643350
16.5	12215200	327150	12542350

How to Read Max Pain

Compare pin-risk and strike-pressure across expirations from the latest published close.

What max pain measures

Max pain is the strike where option holders would collectively lose the most at expiration, based on open interest across the listed chain.

How traders use it

It is most useful as a possible pinning zone, especially when spot is already trading near a crowded strike into expiration.

What can break it

Strong directional flows, news, or fast spot moves can overwhelm any pinning tendency, so max pain should support a thesis rather than drive it alone.

The closer you are to expiration, the more useful this becomes as context and the less useful it is as a standalone prediction.