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

LECO max pain

Spot (delayed)$255.96
Max pain · Thu, Jun 17$200-21.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$51.15±20.0% by Thu, Jun 17
Put/Call OI0.502 puts / 4 calls
Call wall$200largest call OI
Put wall$350largest put OI
IV3036.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$609per 1% move

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, 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

spot200200232264296328360$1M$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 — 200 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot20020026027035036022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LECO open contracts per strike for Thu, Jun 17.

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 · Thu, Jun 17

spot20020026027035036011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot20023226429632836035%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 31.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot200260270350360+$413−$413
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 · Thu, Jun 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.86-0.032000.00300.46-0.03-0.14
0.56-0.052600.00610.81-0.06-0.45
0.50-0.052700.00630.82-0.06-0.52
0.15-0.033500.00360.48-0.04-0.94
0.12-0.033600.00320.42-0.04-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. 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