Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 26, 3:26 AM ET

LNG max pain

Spot (delayed)$268.56
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$260-3.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$28.65±10.7% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.663K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$310largest call OI
Put wall$240largest put OI
IV3033.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.1Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $160

Event risk before this expiration: 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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 2$270+0.5%6d
Fri, Oct 9$272.5+1.5%13d
Fri, Oct 16$275+2.4%20d
Fri, Oct 23$275+2.4%27d
Fri, Oct 30$275+2.4%34d
Fri, Nov 6$260-3.2%41d
Fri, Nov 20$260-3.2%55d
Fri, Dec 18$240-10.6%83d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot260125188251314377440$60M$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 — 260 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot260125170210280350420982982
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LNG open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot2601251702102803504203434
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot14020026032038044080%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 160155185230290350410+$495K−$495K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.022000.00130.06-0.02-0.02
0.96-0.032100.00210.09-0.03-0.04
0.93-0.042200.00340.14-0.04-0.07
0.89-0.062300.00510.20-0.06-0.11
0.83-0.082400.00700.27-0.09-0.18
0.74-0.102500.00900.34-0.11-0.26
0.64-0.122600.01040.39-0.12-0.37
0.53-0.132700.01110.42-0.13-0.48
0.42-0.132800.01080.41-0.13-0.58
0.33-0.122900.00980.38-0.12-0.68
0.25-0.113000.00850.34-0.11-0.76
0.19-0.093100.00700.28-0.10-0.83
0.14-0.083200.00570.23-0.09-0.89
0.10-0.063300.00450.19-0.08-0.93
0.08-0.053400.00350.15-0.06-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 38 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1552302652853103503K0
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

spot90160230267.5302.53606K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 54K call contracts, 26K 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: LNG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk