Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 11:13 AM ET

LEGN max pain

Spot (delayed)$20.5
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$20-2.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.53±27.0% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.52335 puts / 649 calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$22.5largest put OI
IV3052.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$5Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $17.5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Aug 21$22.5+9.8%3d
Fri, Sep 18$22.5+9.8%31d
Fri, Nov 20$20-2.4%94d
Fri, Dec 18$22.5+9.8%122d
Fri, Jan 15$20-2.4%150d
Fri, Feb 19$22.5+9.8%185d
Fri, Mar 19$22.5+9.8%213d
Fri, Dec 17$15-26.8%486d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot20152228354148$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot201522.53037.545163163
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LEGN 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

spot201522.53037.5458383
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot152228354148135%43%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 55.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 17.51522.53037.545+$4K$4K
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
0.85-0.01150.02710.03-0.01-0.16
0.77-0.0117.50.04340.03-0.01-0.24
0.63-0.01200.06400.04-0.01-0.38
0.47-0.0122.50.06880.04-0.01-0.55
0.35-0.01250.05760.04-0.01-0.67
0.29-0.0127.50.04670.04-0.01-0.74
0.24-0.01300.03880.03-0.01-0.79
0.21-0.0132.50.03310.03-0.01-0.81
0.19-0.01350.02890.03-0.01-0.84
0.18-0.0137.50.02570.03-0.01-0.85

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1017.52532.54047.53K0
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

spot2.512.522.532.542.5555K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 23K call contracts, 9K 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: LEGN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk