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

LEGN max pain

Spot (delayed)$20.5
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$22.5+9.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.2±30.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.592K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$22.5largest call OI
Put wall$27.5largest put OI
IV3052.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$25Kper 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 · 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, 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

spot22.581625334250$7M$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 — 22.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot22.57.51522.53037.5451K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LEGN open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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, Dec 18

spot22.57.51522.53037.5454848
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot101826344250118%52%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 65.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 17.57.51522.53037.545+$28K$28K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.017.50.00600.01-0.01-0.05
0.93-0.01100.01020.02-0.01-0.08
0.89-0.0112.50.01640.02-0.01-0.12
0.84-0.01150.02600.03-0.01-0.17
0.76-0.0117.50.04030.04-0.01-0.25
0.63-0.01200.05720.05-0.01-0.38
0.48-0.0122.50.06230.05-0.01-0.54
0.37-0.01250.05420.05-0.01-0.65
0.31-0.0127.50.04520.04-0.01-0.72
0.26-0.01300.03820.04-0.01-0.77
0.23-0.0132.50.03300.04-0.01-0.80
0.21-0.01350.02910.04-0.01-0.82
0.19-0.0137.50.02600.03-0.01-0.84

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 18 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