Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 16, 11:34 PM ET

LXRX max pain

Spot (delayed)$1.54
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$0.5-67.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.58±37.3% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.03705 puts / 23K calls
Call wall$0.5largest call OI
Put wall$2largest put OI
IV30114.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$13Kper 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$2+29.9%34d
Fri, Jan 15$0.5-67.5%90d
Fri, Apr 16$0.5-67.5%181d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot0.5123568$12M$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 — 0.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot0.50.51.52.57.56K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LXRX open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot0.50.51.52.57.54141
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot123568366%90%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 97.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot0.51.52.57.5+$4K−$4K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.93-0.000.50.07140.00-0.00-0.06
0.82-0.0010.24090.00-0.00-0.17
0.60-0.001.50.51500.00-0.00-0.39
0.38-0.0020.50090.00-0.00-0.61
0.27-0.002.50.38470.00-0.00-0.72
0.12-0.0050.16710.00-0.00-0.89
0.08-0.007.50.10770.00-0.00-0.94

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

spot0.51.52.57.56K0
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

spot0.51.52.57.56K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 24K call contracts, 1K 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: LXRX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk