Type any optionable ticker. You get the max pain price for every upcoming expiration, open interest and volume by strike, the call and put walls, put/call ratios, and the expected move — and unlike most max pain sites, we chart the entire writer-loss curve the number comes from, so you can check the work.
What max pain is — and what it is not
Every open option contract has a writer on the other side. At expiration, the writers’ total payout depends on where the underlying settles: settle high and in-the-money calls collect, settle low and in-the-money puts collect. Max pain is the settle price where that total payout is smallest — the point of maximum pain for option buyers, minimum for writers. It is pure arithmetic over open interest.
The theory layered on top — that prices get pushed toward max pain into expiration — is contested. Dealer hedging is real and can produce flows in that direction, but research disagrees on whether settlement near max pain beats chance. We publish the number because positioning is worth seeing; we do not publish it as a forecast, and nothing here is a recommendation.
Does it work? We measure it.
Rather than assert the theory, we test it in public: every tracked expiration’s final max pain is compared against where the underlying actually settled, and the running hit-rate lives on the accuracy ledger. Until the sample is big enough to mean something, that page says so.
How we compute it
From Cboe’s delayed public options feed (~15 minutes behind the market): for each candidate settle price we total what writers would owe across every open call and put at that price, ×100 shares per contract. The minimum of that curve is max pain. The curve itself is on every ticker page — the answer and the work, together.
Max pain FAQ
What is max pain in options?
Max pain is the settle price at expiration that would cost option buyers the most and option writers the least — the strike where the total payout owed across all open calls and puts is smallest. It is computed from open interest, not from anyone’s opinion.
How is the max pain price calculated?
For every candidate settle price, add up what writers would owe on every open contract: in-the-money calls pay (settle − strike) × open interest × 100, in-the-money puts pay (strike − settle) × open interest × 100. The candidate with the smallest total is max pain. We chart that whole curve so you can see the answer instead of trusting it.
Does the stock price really get pushed to max pain?
Sometimes prices settle near max pain, and hedging by options dealers can create real flows in that direction — but the theory is contested, and studies disagree on whether the effect beats chance. Treat max pain as a map of positioning, not a forecast.
What are call walls and put walls?
The strikes carrying the largest call and put open interest. Heavy strikes can act like magnets or barriers into expiration because of dealer hedging, which is why traders watch them.
Where does this data come from?
Cboe’s public delayed options feed, roughly 15 minutes behind the market, refreshed about every 15 minutes here. Every page shows its as-of timestamp.