Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 12:43 AM ET

LDOS max pain

Spot (delayed)$119.7
Max pain · Fri, May 21$110-8.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$26.7±22.3% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI0.80482 puts / 604 calls
Call wall$100largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3037.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$19Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $80

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 16$125+4.4%2d
Fri, Nov 20$125+4.4%37d
Fri, Dec 18$110-8.1%65d
Fri, Jan 15$115-3.9%93d
Fri, Feb 19$125+4.4%128d
Fri, May 21$110-8.1%219d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1105586117148179210$5M$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 — 110 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot1105585115145175210190190
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LDOS open contracts per strike for Fri, May 21.

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, May 21

spot110558511514517521044
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot558611714817921053%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21

spotflip 805585115145175210+$15K−$15K
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, May 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.92-0.01850.00440.15-0.01-0.09
0.89-0.01900.00560.18-0.02-0.12
0.85-0.01950.00680.22-0.02-0.16
0.81-0.021000.00810.26-0.02-0.20
0.76-0.021050.00940.29-0.02-0.25
0.71-0.021100.01050.32-0.03-0.31
0.65-0.031150.01140.34-0.03-0.37
0.59-0.031200.01200.36-0.03-0.43
0.53-0.031250.01230.37-0.03-0.49
0.47-0.031300.01240.37-0.03-0.55
0.42-0.031350.01220.36-0.03-0.61
0.36-0.031400.01170.35-0.03-0.67
0.32-0.031450.01110.33-0.02-0.72
0.28-0.021500.01040.31-0.02-0.77
0.24-0.021550.00960.29-0.02-0.82

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 31 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot601001301601902402K0
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

spot55901251601952602K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K call contracts, 5K 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: LDOS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk