SPY Max Pain
SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust
As of the close, Mon 19 Oct 2026
- Max pain?
- $770 The settlement price at which the most option value expires worthless — the strike minimising what call and put holders together collect. It describes where open interest sits, not where the price is going.
- Spot?
- $766.48 The underlying's closing price for the session these figures are computed from. Every strike below is measured against it.
- Distance?
- +0.5% How far the close sits from the max pain strike, as a percentage of the close. Large gaps close more often than not near expiry, which is a tendency and not a rule.
- Pain at close?
- +$4.3M What would expire in the money if the underlying settled exactly where it closed — the point on the curve directly above today's price.
- Open interest?
- 85,002 Total contracts outstanding across every strike and expiry this reads. The pain curve is computed from these, so it says how much the answer rests on.
- Expiry?
- 26-OCT-2026 The contract expiry these numbers are for, and the calendar days from the closing session to it. Every figure in this row is at THAT expiry, not today.
| Settles at | Expires worthless | Pain |
|---|---|---|
| $550 | +$799.5M | |
| $555 | +$777.6M | |
| $560 | +$755.7M | |
| $565 | +$733.9M | |
| $570 | +$712.1M | |
| $575 | +$690.3M | |
| $580 | +$668.5M | |
| $585 | +$646.7M | |
| $590 | +$624.9M | |
| $595 | +$603.2M | |
| $600 | +$581.5M | |
| $605 | +$560.0M | |
| $610 | +$538.5M | |
| $615 | +$517.2M | |
| $620 | +$495.9M | |
| $625 | +$475.6M | |
| $630 | +$455.3M | |
| $635 | +$435.0M | |
| $640 | +$414.8M | |
| $645 | +$394.6M | |
| $650 | +$374.6M | |
| $655 | +$354.6M | |
| $660 | +$334.9M | |
| $665 | +$315.1M | |
| $670 | +$295.5M | |
| $675 | +$275.9M | |
| $680 | +$256.4M | |
| $685 | +$237.0M | |
| $690 | +$217.7M | |
| $695 | +$198.5M | |
| $700 | +$179.6M | |
| $705 | +$160.7M | |
| $710 | +$142.3M | |
| $715 | +$124.0M | |
| $720 | +$106.2M | |
| $725 | +$88.9M | |
| $726 | +$85.5M | |
| $727 | +$82.2M | |
| $728 | +$78.8M | |
| $729 | +$75.5M | |
| $730 | +$72.3M | |
| $731 | +$69.1M | |
| $732 | +$66.0M | |
| $733 | +$63.0M | |
| $734 | +$60.0M | |
| $735 | +$57.0M | |
| $736 | +$54.1M | |
| $737 | +$51.4M | |
| $738 | +$48.9M | |
| $739 | +$46.4M | |
| $740 | +$43.9M | |
| $741 | +$41.5M | |
| $742 | +$39.2M | |
| $743 | +$37.0M | |
| $744 | +$34.8M | |
| $745 | +$32.6M | |
| $746 | +$30.5M | |
| $747 | +$28.5M | |
| $748 | +$26.5M | |
| $749 | +$24.6M | |
| $750 | +$22.7M | |
| $751 | +$21.0M | |
| $752 | +$19.3M | |
| $753 | +$17.7M | |
| $754 | +$16.1M | |
| $755 | +$14.7M | |
| $756 | +$13.4M | |
| $757 | +$12.2M | |
| $758 | +$11.0M | |
| $759 | +$9.9M | |
| $760 | +$8.9M | |
| $761 | +$7.9M | |
| $762 | +$7.0M | |
| $763 | +$6.2M | |
| $764 | +$5.5M | |
| $765 | +$4.8M | |
| $766 | +$4.3M | |
| $767 | +$3.9M | |
| $768 | +$3.6M | |
| $769 | +$3.3M | |
| $770 | +$3.2M | |
| $771 | +$3.4M | |
| $772 | +$3.7M | |
| $773 | +$4.2M | |
| $774 | +$4.7M | |
| $775 | +$5.3M | |
| $776 | +$6.1M | |
| $777 | +$6.9M | |
| $778 | +$7.9M | |
| $779 | +$8.9M | |
| $780 | +$9.9M | |
| $781 | +$11.3M | |
| $782 | +$12.6M | |
| $783 | +$14.1M | |
| $784 | +$15.5M | |
| $785 | +$17.1M | |
| $786 | +$18.8M | |
| $787 | +$20.5M | |
| $788 | +$22.5M | |
| $789 | +$24.8M | |
| $790 | +$27.5M | |
| $791 | +$30.4M | |
| $792 | +$33.3M | |
| $793 | +$36.4M | |
| $794 | +$39.6M | |
| $795 | +$43.0M | |
| $796 | +$46.5M | |
| $797 | +$50.0M | |
| $798 | +$53.6M | |
| $799 | +$57.1M | |
| $800 | +$60.8M | |
| $801 | +$64.4M | |
| $802 | +$68.1M | |
| $803 | +$71.8M | |
| $804 | +$75.5M | |
| $805 | +$79.2M | |
| $806 | +$83.0M | |
| $807 | +$86.7M | |
| $808 | +$90.5M | |
| $809 | +$94.3M | |
| $810 | +$98.2M | |
| $815 | +$117.6M | |
| $820 | +$137.1M | |
| $825 | +$156.7M | |
| $830 | +$176.7M | |
| $835 | +$196.7M | |
| $840 | +$216.7M | |
| $845 | +$237.0M | |
| $850 | +$257.4M | |
| $855 | +$278.0M | |
| $860 | +$298.6M | |
| $865 | +$319.2M | |
| $870 | +$339.9M | |
| $875 | +$360.4M | |
| $880 | +$381.1M | |
| $885 | +$401.7M | |
| $890 | +$422.3M | |
| $895 | +$442.9M | |
| $900 | +$463.5M | |
| $905 | +$484.1M | |
| $910 | +$504.7M | |
| $915 | +$525.3M | |
| $920 | +$545.9M | |
| $925 | +$566.5M | |
| $930 | +$587.1M | |
| $935 | +$607.7M | |
| $940 | +$628.3M | |
| $945 | +$648.9M | |
| $950 | +$669.5M |
The shortest bar is the max pain strike, marked in accent; the strike nearest the close is underlined.
One expiry, 26-OCT-2026: the settlement price at which the most open interest expires worthless. It describes where that interest sits, not where the price is going.
How this is computed
Pain at a settlement price is what call and put holders together would collect there — for every strike, open interest × how far it finishes in the money × a hundred shares a contract. Max pain is the settlement minimising that. Candidates are the listed strikes rather than a swept range, because the curve is piecewise linear and its minimum lies at a kink, and every kink is a strike. It is computed from the close's open interest and describes where that interest sits — not a forecast, and not advice. 298 of 298 contracts reported open interest and are counted. Max pain is a per-expiry quantity, so this is the 26-OCT-2026 expiry alone — blending several would treat a later contract as if it settled on this date. It is the first listed expiry at least a week out, 7 days from the close; 4 nearer expiries are passed over, because a two-session contract carries a fraction of the open interest and reads as noise under this label.