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

LEGN max pain

Spot (delayed)$20.5
Max pain · Fri, Dec 17$15-26.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.45±46.1% by Fri, Dec 17
Put/Call OI0.1249 puts / 422 calls
Call wall$27.5largest call OI
Put wall$22.5largest put OI
IV3052.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4Kper 1% move

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

spot15152228354148$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot151520253037.542.59696
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LEGN open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 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 · Fri, Dec 17

spot151520253037.542.52727
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot15222835414874%47%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 51.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot1520253037.542.5+$1K$1K
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 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.80-0.00150.01820.07-0.00-0.19
0.74-0.0017.50.02410.08-0.00-0.26
0.66-0.00200.02920.09-0.00-0.34
0.58-0.0022.50.03170.09-0.01-0.42
0.52-0.00250.03180.09-0.01-0.50
0.47-0.0127.50.03060.09-0.01-0.56
0.43-0.01300.02890.09-0.01-0.60
0.37-0.01350.02570.09-0.01-0.67
0.35-0.0137.50.02430.09-0.01-0.70
0.33-0.01400.02300.09-0.01-0.72

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 12 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