Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 5:34 AM ET

LGND max pain

Spot (delayed)$308.3
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$300-2.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$37.9±12.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.0078 puts / 78 calls
Call wall$370largest call OI
Put wall$300largest put OI
IV3041.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$7Kper 1% move

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$240-22.2%24d
Fri, Dec 18$300-2.7%52d
Fri, Jan 15$190-38.4%80d
Fri, Feb 19$300-2.7%115d
Fri, May 21$350+13.5%206d
Thu, Jun 17$310+0.6%233d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot300160222284346408470$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 — 300 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot3001601852403304105050
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LGND 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

spot30016018524033041011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot160222284346408470112%40%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 40.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot160185240330410+$39K−$39K
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
0.97-0.031900.00070.07-0.05-0.03
0.97-0.031950.00080.08-0.05-0.03
0.97-0.042000.00090.09-0.05-0.03
0.96-0.052100.00120.10-0.06-0.04
0.91-0.082400.00250.18-0.09-0.09
0.69-0.162900.00720.41-0.16-0.31
0.61-0.173000.00800.45-0.17-0.39
0.53-0.173100.00850.47-0.17-0.47
0.45-0.173200.00850.46-0.17-0.56
0.37-0.163300.00800.44-0.17-0.64
0.24-0.143500.00650.37-0.14-0.77
0.16-0.113700.00480.29-0.11-0.85
0.11-0.093900.00340.22-0.09-0.91
0.09-0.084000.00290.19-0.08-0.93
0.07-0.074100.00250.17-0.07-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 25 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot110175230310380450520
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

spot110150190260340420103103
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 579 call contracts, 456 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: LGND workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk