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

LEGN max pain

Spot (delayed)$19.12
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$22.5+17.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.65±29.6% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.82252 puts / 308 calls
Call wall$22.5largest call OI
Put wall$22.5largest put OI
IV3062.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$221per 1% move · flip ≈ $37.5

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$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 — 22.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot22.57.51522.532.547.59696
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LEGN open contracts per strike for Fri, Feb 19.

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, Feb 19

spot22.57.51522.532.547.57575
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot81625334250181%59%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 63.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 37.57.51522.532.547.5+$718−$718
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, Feb 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.93-0.017.50.00780.01-0.01-0.07
0.89-0.01100.01300.02-0.01-0.10
0.84-0.0112.50.02070.03-0.01-0.15
0.77-0.01150.03170.03-0.01-0.22
0.66-0.0117.50.04540.04-0.01-0.33
0.53-0.01200.05520.04-0.01-0.46
0.41-0.0122.50.05380.04-0.01-0.59
0.32-0.01250.04680.04-0.01-0.67
0.26-0.0127.50.03980.04-0.01-0.73
0.19-0.0132.50.02970.03-0.01-0.81
0.17-0.01350.02620.03-0.01-0.83
0.15-0.0137.50.02340.03-0.01-0.85
0.11-0.0147.50.01630.02-0.01-0.90

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 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

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