Max pain for 99 stocks and ETFs, nearest expiry.
Max pain is the strike price where option holders would collect the least money if the stock closed there at expiry. Below is today's figure for every stock we track, next to the last price. Readings refresh every 15 minutes in market hours; this list was built at 2026-09-26 12:12 PM ET.
Any US stock or ETF with listed options, with max pain for every upcoming expiry.
For the 2026-Sep-28 (Mon) expiry. 0.4% below the last price of 771.30. Every SPY expiry.
For the 2026-Sep-28 (Mon) expiry. 1.0% below the last price of 744.44. Every QQQ expiry.
For the 2026-Sep-28 (Mon) expiry. 1.1% below the last price of 225.07. Every NVDA expiry.
Biggest gaps between price and max pain
Stocks whose last price is furthest from max pain for the nearest expiry. A big gap is not a signal on its own; see does the price move toward max pain below.
Every tracked stock
Gap is how far max pain sits from the last price: +2.0% means max pain is 2% above it, -2.0% means 2% below.
| Stock | Name | Last | Nearest expiry | Max pain | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPY | State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | 771.30 | 2026-Sep-28 Mon, 2 days | 768.00 | -0.4% |
| QQQ | Invesco QQQ Trust | 744.44 | 2026-Sep-28 Mon, 2 days | 737.00 | -1.0% |
| IWM | iShares Russell 2000 ETF | 281.93 | 2026-Sep-28 Mon, 2 days | 283.00 | +0.4% |
| DIA | State Street SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust | 517.47 | 2026-Sep-30 Wed, 4 days | 511.00 | -1.3% |
| XLF | State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF | 54.83 | 2026-Sep-28 Mon, 2 days | 54.50 | -0.6% |
| XLE | State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF | 62.05 | 2026-Sep-28 Mon, 2 days | 63.00 | +1.5% |
| GLD | SPDR Gold Shares | 393.35 | 2026-Sep-28 Mon, 2 days | 394.00 | +0.2% |
| TLT | iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF | 79.33 | 2026-Sep-28 Mon, 2 days | 80.00 | +0.8% |
| AAPL | Apple | 341.07 | 2026-Sep-28 Mon, 2 days | 335.00 | -1.8% |
| MSFT | Microsoft | 516.17 | 2026-Sep-28 Mon, 2 days | 495.00 | -4.1% |
| NVDA | NVIDIA | 225.07 | 2026-Sep-28 Mon, 2 days | 222.50 | -1.1% |
| AMZN | Amazon.com | 249.67 | 2026-Sep-28 Mon, 2 days | 250.00 | +0.1% |
| GOOGL | Alphabet | 343.92 | 2026-Sep-28 Mon, 2 days | 342.50 | -0.4% |
| META | Meta Platforms | 751.66 | 2026-Sep-28 Mon, 2 days | 750.00 | -0.2% |
| TSLA | Tesla | 372.11 | 2026-Sep-28 Mon, 2 days | 377.50 | +1.4% |
| AVGO | Broadcom | 352.81 | 2026-Sep-28 Mon, 2 days | 352.50 | -0.1% |
| BRK-B | Berkshire Hathaway | 505.48 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 507.50 | +0.4% |
| NFLX | Netflix | 71.14 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 73.00 | +2.6% |
| AMD | Advanced Micro Devices | 630.63 | 2026-Sep-28 Mon, 2 days | 610.00 | -3.3% |
| INTC | Intel | 123.00 | 2026-Sep-28 Mon, 2 days | 122.00 | -0.8% |
| MU | Micron Technology | 1082.28 | 2026-Sep-28 Mon, 2 days | 1040.00 | -3.9% |
| ARM | Arm Holdings | 310.32 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 290.00 | -6.5% |
| SMCI | Super Micro Computer | 43.26 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 38.00 | -12.2% |
| QCOM | QUALCOMM Incorporated | 201.97 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 185.00 | -8.4% |
| TXN | Texas Instruments Incorporated | 278.07 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 267.50 | -3.8% |
| AMAT | Applied Materials | 485.00 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 457.50 | -5.7% |
| LRCX | Lam Research | 315.21 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 287.50 | -8.8% |
| MRVL | Marvell Technology | 261.94 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 240.00 | -8.4% |
| TSM | Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company | 450.61 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 430.00 | -4.6% |
| CRM | Salesforce | 234.02 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 242.50 | +3.6% |
| ORCL | Oracle | 137.10 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 145.00 | +5.8% |
| ADBE | Adobe | 235.47 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 250.00 | +6.2% |
| PLTR | Palantir Technologies | 189.67 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 182.50 | -3.8% |
| SNOW | Snowflake | 335.94 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 332.50 | -1.0% |
| CRWD | CrowdStrike Holdings | 252.13 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 250.00 | -0.8% |
| PANW | Palo Alto Networks | 374.74 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 362.50 | -3.3% |
| NET | Cloudflare | 349.02 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 322.50 | -7.6% |
| DDOG | Datadog | 268.13 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 240.00 | -10.5% |
| ZS | Zscaler | 193.05 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 185.00 | -4.2% |
| SHOP | Shopify | 142.25 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 137.00 | -3.7% |
| UBER | Uber Technologies | 69.62 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 71.00 | +2.0% |
| ABNB | Airbnb | 157.47 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 155.00 | -1.6% |
| PYPL | PayPal Holdings | 55.04 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 53.00 | -3.7% |
| IBM | International Business Machines | 225.51 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 230.00 | +2.0% |
| CSCO | Cisco Systems | 106.70 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 109.00 | +2.2% |
| NOW | ServiceNow | 135.62 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 135.00 | -0.5% |
| COIN | Coinbase Global | 195.11 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 190.00 | -2.6% |
| MSTR | Strategy | 158.61 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 155.00 | -2.3% |
| HOOD | Robinhood Markets | 119.40 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 116.00 | -2.8% |
| SOFI | SoFi Technologies | 16.58 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 17.00 | +2.5% |
| GME | GameStop | 23.39 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 22.00 | -5.9% |
| AMC | AMC Entertainment Holdings | 2.94 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 2.50 | -15.0% |
| RIVN | Rivian Automotive | 15.47 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 15.50 | +0.2% |
| LCID | Lucid Group | 4.07 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 4.00 | -1.7% |
| NIO | NIO | 3.58 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 4.00 | +11.7% |
| BABA | Alibaba Group Holding | 109.74 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 112.00 | +2.1% |
| JPM | JPMorgan Chase & | 343.06 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 340.00 | -0.9% |
| BAC | Bank of America | 56.70 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 58.00 | +2.3% |
| WFC | Wells Fargo & Company | 82.97 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 84.00 | +1.2% |
| GS | The Goldman Sachs Group | 935.45 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 960.00 | +2.6% |
| MS | Morgan Stanley | 196.31 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 205.00 | +4.4% |
| C | Citigroup | 134.28 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 133.00 | -1.0% |
| V | Visa | 367.38 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 365.00 | -0.6% |
| MA | Mastercard Incorporated | 567.65 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 565.00 | -0.5% |
| AXP | American Express Company | 308.89 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 307.50 | -0.4% |
| XOM | ExxonMobil Holdings | 160.59 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 162.50 | +1.2% |
| CVX | Chevron | 204.45 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 205.00 | +0.3% |
| COP | ConocoPhillips | 127.30 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 130.00 | +2.1% |
| OXY | Occidental Petroleum | 56.86 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 59.00 | +3.8% |
| BA | The Boeing Company | 198.07 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 200.00 | +1.0% |
| CAT | Caterpillar | 821.58 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 805.00 | -2.0% |
| DE | Deere & Company | 690.46 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 680.00 | -1.5% |
| GE | GE Aerospace | 327.09 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 320.00 | -2.2% |
| LMT | Lockheed Martin | 519.56 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 545.00 | +4.9% |
| RTX | RTX | 189.40 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 192.50 | +1.6% |
| HON | Honeywell International | 212.55 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 210.00 | -1.2% |
| UPS | United Parcel Service | 93.96 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 95.00 | +1.1% |
| F | Ford Motor Company | 12.71 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 13.00 | +2.3% |
| GM | General Motors Company | 82.63 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 85.00 | +2.9% |
| AAL | American Airlines Group | 13.87 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 13.50 | -2.7% |
| UNH | UnitedHealth Group Incorporated | 376.59 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 380.00 | +0.9% |
| LLY | Eli Lilly and Company | 1183.46 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 1170.00 | -1.1% |
| JNJ | Johnson & Johnson | 271.22 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 270.00 | -0.4% |
| PFE | Pfizer | 28.67 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 27.50 | -4.1% |
| MRK | Merck & Co. | 148.78 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 147.00 | -1.2% |
| ABBV | AbbVie | 264.34 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 262.50 | -0.7% |
| MRNA | Moderna | 198.88 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 160.00 | -19.5% |
| COST | Costco Wholesale | 922.76 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 910.00 | -1.4% |
| WMT | Walmart | 107.98 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 107.00 | -0.9% |
| HD | The Home Depot | 293.20 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 300.00 | +2.3% |
| LOW | Lowe's Companies | 189.28 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 195.00 | +3.0% |
| TGT | Target | 157.45 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 160.00 | +1.6% |
| NKE | NIKE | 35.75 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 36.50 | +2.1% |
| SBUX | Starbucks | 94.86 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 95.00 | +0.1% |
| MCD | McDonald's | 236.50 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 245.00 | +3.6% |
| DIS | The Walt Disney Company | 106.15 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 105.00 | -1.1% |
| PG | The Procter & Gamble Company | 146.23 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 146.00 | -0.2% |
| KO | The Coca-Cola Company | 87.81 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 88.00 | +0.2% |
| PEP | PepsiCo | 128.63 | 2026-Oct-02 Fri, 6 days | 132.00 | +2.6% |
How max pain is worked out
For each expiry we take every listed strike and ask: if the stock closed exactly here, how much would all the open calls and puts be worth? Calls are worth the amount the price is above their strike, puts the amount it is below. Max pain is the strike where that total is smallest, so option holders collect the least and option sellers keep the most.
- It uses open interest, the number of contracts still open. That is reported once a day before the market opens, so max pain usually stays put through the session and changes overnight.
- Contracts with fewer than 10 open are ignored as noise. If an expiry has fewer than 100 contracts open in total, or fewer than 3 strikes, we show n/a instead of a number.
- A result more than 50% away from the stock price is almost always stale data, so we show n/a instead.
- "n/a" always means we could not work it out. We never fill the gap with the stock price or a guess.
Does the price move toward max pain?
Sometimes. Dealers who sold the options hedge them by trading the stock, and near expiry that hedging can nudge the price toward strikes with a lot of open interest. The effect is strongest on expiry day itself and in heavily traded single stocks. It is small next to a normal daily move, and on index funds like SPY, where most options are hedges and spreads, it is weak. Read max pain next to the expected move: if max pain sits inside the expected range, it is one more hint the range holds; if it sits far outside, ignore it.
The full explanation, with the formula and the evidence, is in max pain explained. Also see today's put/call ratios. Chains are delayed at least 15 minutes. Nothing here is investment advice.