Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 10:09 AM ET

LEGN max pain

Spot (delayed)$19.12
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$22.5+17.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.7±24.6% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.712K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$22.5largest call OI
Put wall$27.5largest put OI
IV3062.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$12Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $15

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$20+4.6%25d
Fri, Dec 18$22.5+17.7%53d
Fri, Jan 15$20+4.6%81d
Fri, Feb 19$22.5+17.7%116d
Fri, Mar 19$17.5-8.5%144d
Fri, May 21$15-21.5%207d

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

spot22.57.51522.53037.5451010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot101826344250194%52%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 64.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 157.51522.53037.545+$21K−$21K
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
0.96-0.017.50.00700.01-0.01-0.04
0.93-0.01100.01290.01-0.01-0.07
0.89-0.0112.50.02290.01-0.01-0.11
0.81-0.02150.03960.02-0.02-0.18
0.68-0.0217.50.06420.03-0.02-0.31
0.49-0.02200.08290.03-0.02-0.51
0.31-0.0122.50.07400.03-0.01-0.69
0.20-0.01250.05450.02-0.01-0.81
0.13-0.0127.50.03930.02-0.01-0.87
0.10-0.01300.02900.01-0.01-0.91
0.07-0.0132.50.02200.01-0.01-0.93
0.06-0.01350.01720.01-0.01-0.95
0.04-0.0137.50.01380.01-0.01-0.96

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

spot7.51522.53037.5452K0
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: 18K call contracts, 7K 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 · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk