Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 12:20 PM ET

LXU max pain

Spot (delayed)$9.87
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$12.5+26.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.38±13.9% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.25649 puts / 3K calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$12.5largest put OI
IV3051.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $12.5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$10+1.3%8d
Fri, Sep 18$12.5+26.6%36d
Fri, Dec 18$10+1.3%127d
Fri, Jan 15$10+1.3%155d
Fri, Mar 19$7.5-24.0%218d
Fri, Jan 21$7.5-24.0%526d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12.53814192530$3M$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 — 12.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot12.52.57.512.517.522.530898898
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LXU open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 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, Sep 18

spot12.52.57.512.517.522.5302121
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot5811141720213%52%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 54.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 12.5510152025+$3K$3K
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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.002.50.00160.00-0.00-0.00
0.99-0.0050.01100.00-0.00-0.01
0.92-0.007.50.07030.01-0.00-0.08
0.52-0.01100.25220.01-0.01-0.49
0.11-0.0012.50.10880.01-0.00-0.92
0.03-0.00150.02940.00-0.00-1.00
0.01-0.0017.50.00950.00-0.00-1.00
0.000.00200.00370.00-0.00-1.00
0.000.0022.50.00160.00-0.00-1.00
0.000.00250.00080.00-0.00-1.00
0.00300.0002-0.00-1.00

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

spot2.57.512.517.522.53013K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.53013K13K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 23K 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: LXU workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk