What is AAL max pain this week?

AAL max pain for the nearest expiration (2026-05-22) is $12.50. Total call open interest: 32,520. Total put open interest: 85,657.

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 $12.95EOD only

Max Pain

$12.50

Next expiry May 22, 2026

Expected Move

±$0.52

4.0% from close

Price Gap

-0.45

Distance to max pain

IV Rank

Middle-high premium

P/C OI

1.86

Slightly put-heavy

Consensus

4/4

Partial coverage

Published snapshot: May 20, 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

May 20, 2026 close

Max Pain — AAL

Data as of market close May 20, 2026

Open Available Reports (4/4)

Nearest listed expiration 2026-05-22 shows max pain at $12.50 (0.45 below spot). Use this page to evaluate pin-risk zones, strike pressure, and open-interest concentration before selecting trade structure.

Max Pain Strike

$12.50

Nearest expiry

Expected Move

±$0.52

±4.0%

Days to Expiry

Calendar days

Total Call OI

32,520

Nearest expiry

Total Put OI

85,657

Nearest expiry

P/C OI Ratio

2.63

Put-heavy

Spot Price

$12.95

Published close

Consensus

Open report for full read

Max Pain by Expiration

Pain by Strike

Drill into expiration

Selected: 2026-05-22

Expiration	Max Pain Strike	Last Updated
2026-05-08	$12.00	5/8/2026, 11:01:00 PM
2026-05-15	$12.50	5/15/2026, 11:00:57 PM
2026-05-22NextUpdated	$12.50	5/20/2026, 11:00:59 PM
2026-05-29	$12.00	5/20/2026, 11:00:59 PM
2026-06-05	$12.00	5/20/2026, 11:00:59 PM
2026-06-12	$12.50	5/20/2026, 11:00:59 PM
2026-06-18	$12.00	5/20/2026, 11:00:59 PM
2026-06-26	$12.50	5/20/2026, 11:00:59 PM
2026-07-17	$12.00	5/20/2026, 11:00:59 PM
2026-08-21	$13.00	5/20/2026, 11:00:59 PM
2026-09-18	$12.00	5/20/2026, 11:00:59 PM
2026-11-20	$12.00	5/20/2026, 11:00:59 PM
2026-12-18	$12.00	5/20/2026, 11:00:59 PM
2027-01-15	$15.00	5/20/2026, 11:00:59 PM
2027-03-19	$10.00	5/20/2026, 11:00:59 PM

Selected expiration: 2026-05-22 at max pain $12.50.

AAL pain by strike for 2026-05-22 expiration
Strike	Call Pain	Put Pain	Total Pain
5	0	47309250	47309250
6	45100	38745550	38790650
6.5	76000	34463700	34539700
7	109900	30181850	30291750
7.5	150550	25900250	26050800
8	192300	21618950	21811250
8.5	238250	17344500	17582750
9	285350	13075600	13360950
9.5	337250	8859400	9196650
10	392200	7050050	7442250
10.5	452000	5366700	5818700
11	525350	3739750	4265100
11.5	611000	2244500	2855500
12	734150	934100	1668250
12.5	983900	131400	1115300
13	1487850	37600	1525450
13.5	2722600	15500	2738100
14	4119500	4950	4124450
14.5	5608400	3350	5611750
15	7150250	2550	7152800

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.