Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 3:05 AM ET

LNTH max pain

Spot (delayed)$99.8
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$100+0.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.9±4.9% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI1.03428 puts / 415 calls
Call wall$75largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV308.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$263Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $100

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$90-9.8%25d
Fri, Dec 18$65-34.9%53d
Fri, Jan 15$65-34.9%81d
Fri, Apr 16$100+0.2%172d
Thu, Jun 17$90-9.8%234d
Fri, Sep 17$105+5.2%326d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot100708090100110120$2M$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 — 100 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot100708095105120417417
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LNTH open contracts per strike for Fri, Apr 16.

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, Apr 16

spot10070809510512011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot758187939910519%4%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 5.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spotflip 100708095105120+$290K−$290K
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, Apr 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.00700.00390.06-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.01750.00540.07-0.01-0.05
0.92-0.01800.00790.09-0.01-0.07
0.90-0.01850.01200.12-0.01-0.09
0.77-0.01950.03550.21-0.01-0.23
0.57-0.011000.06210.27-0.01-0.46
0.31-0.011050.04720.24-0.01-0.75
0.20-0.011100.02880.20-0.01-0.87
0.12-0.011200.01420.14-0.01-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot255070901201609650
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

spot2547.567.587.51151551K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 2K 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: LNTH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk