AVL max pain for the Oct 16, 2026 expiry was $36 as of the Wed Oct 7 options chain.
What the institutional money is doing on AVL right now — dark pool, options positioning, and where the news and the money disagree. Free.
The article points to Broadcom as a bargain, but the money signals on AVL itself show no clear directional bet, so the story and the positioning do not conflict.
The article is about sector funds in general, and AVL's own positioning is balanced with no strong lean, so it neither supports nor contradicts the story.
Open positions: calls and puts balanced (put/call 0.80); prior-session volume: more calls than puts (put/call 0.63).
A divergence is when the news narrative and the institutional money flow point in opposite directions — a bearish headline while large call premium is bought, or heavy dark-pool selling under a bullish story. It signals the crowd and the desks may disagree.
Dark-pool volume — The share of trading executed off-exchange, at wholesalers and dark pools. About half of all US share volume prints there on an ordinary day, so the level by itself says almost nothing. What carries information is the distance from this name’s own recent norm, and whether the off-exchange size ran above its usual.
Off-exchange short share — How much of that off-exchange volume was sold short. The median across all listed names is about 49%, because wholesalers filling retail buy orders sell short and cover later. A reading near half is plumbing, not a bearish vote — compare it to the same name’s own 20-day norm.
Max pain — The price where the most options expire worthless — positioning often gravitates toward it near expiry.
Call wall / Put floor — Strikes with the heaviest call/put open interest — they often act as short-term resistance and support.
Put/Call ratio — Below ~0.7 leans bullish (more calls); above ~1 leans defensive (more puts).
