Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 3:08 AM ET

LECO max pain

Spot (delayed)$255.96
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$260+1.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$21.6±8.4% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.29328 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$290largest call OI
Put wall$260largest put OI
IV3036.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$377Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $140

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

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 20$260+1.6%25d
Fri, Dec 18$240-6.2%53d
Fri, Mar 19$170-33.6%144d
Thu, Jun 17$200-21.9%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot260125188251314377440$17M$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 — 260 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot260125170210280350420296296
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LECO open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot26012517021028035042011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot125188251314377440146%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 140125170200260320380+$157K−$157K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.081950.00230.07-0.08-0.05
0.94-0.092000.00270.08-0.09-0.06
0.92-0.112100.00390.11-0.11-0.08
0.88-0.132200.00560.14-0.13-0.12
0.82-0.152300.00800.19-0.15-0.18
0.74-0.172400.01100.23-0.17-0.26
0.62-0.192500.01400.27-0.19-0.38
0.47-0.182600.01530.28-0.19-0.53
0.33-0.172700.01390.26-0.17-0.68
0.22-0.142800.01100.21-0.14-0.79
0.14-0.112900.00810.16-0.12-0.86
0.10-0.093000.00580.13-0.10-0.91
0.07-0.073100.00420.10-0.08-0.94
0.05-0.063200.00310.07-0.06-0.96
0.04-0.053300.00240.06-0.05-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 37 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1251852503103704404180
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

spot125160195260330400418418
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 526 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: LECO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk