Max pain calculator
Find the max-pain strike from a chain of call and put open interest.
Runs 100% in your browser| Strike | Call OI | Put OI |
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- Max pain strike
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| Strike | Total payout |
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How to calculate max pain
- Enter the chain. Add each strike with its call and put open interest.
- Add or remove strikes. Use “Add strike” to extend the chain to cover the range.
- Read the max-pain strike. The strike with the lowest total payout is highlighted.
Reading max pain
Max pain is an open-interest lens on an expiration: it shows where the largest dollar value of options would expire worthless. Traders watch it alongside the expected move to frame where a stock might settle into expiration — but it’s a debated signal, not a certainty.
Educational tool only — not financial advice. Max pain is a descriptive statistic, not a prediction. Options trading carries a high level of risk.
Frequently asked questions
- Max pain is the strike price at which the most options — by open interest — expire worthless, causing the greatest total loss ("pain") to option buyers. It is the expiry price that minimises the total intrinsic payout option sellers would owe.
- For every listed strike, you sum what in-the-money calls and puts would pay out if the stock expired there (using each strike’s open interest), then pick the strike with the smallest total. This tool does that across the chain you enter.
- From your broker or any options chain for the expiration you care about. Enter each strike with its call and put open interest; add or remove rows as needed.
- It is a widely-watched data point, not a forecast. The theory is that prices may gravitate toward max pain near expiration, but it is debated and should never be the sole basis for a trade.
- No — the chain you type stays in your browser.
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