What is COST max pain this week?

COST max pain for the nearest expiration (2026-05-22) is $1040.00. Total call open interest: 14,894. Total put open interest: 40,176.

What is max pain in options?

Max pain is the strike price where option holders (buyers of both puts and calls) would collectively lose the most money at expiration. It represents the point of maximum financial pain for option buyers, and theory suggests stock prices tend to gravitate toward max pain as expiration approaches.

Home Options COSTMax Pain

COST

Costco Wholesale CorporationClose $1074.01EOD only

Max Pain

$1040.00

Next expiry May 22, 2026

Expected Move

±$18.07

1.7% from close

Price Gap

-34.01

Distance to max pain

IV Rank

High premium

P/C OI

1.43

Slightly put-heavy

Consensus

4/4

Partial coverage

Published snapshot: May 20, 2026 close

End-of-day snapshot

This page reflects COST options positioning from the latest published market-close snapshot. Intraday price and contract changes are not displayed.

Published Snapshot

May 20, 2026 close

Max Pain — COST

Data as of market close May 20, 2026

Open Available Reports (4/4)

Nearest listed expiration 2026-05-22 shows max pain at $1040.00 (34.01 below spot). Use this page to evaluate pin-risk zones, strike pressure, and open-interest concentration before selecting trade structure.

Max Pain Strike

$1040.00

Nearest expiry

Expected Move

±$18.07

±1.7%

Days to Expiry

Calendar days

Total Call OI

14,894

Nearest expiry

Total Put OI

40,176

Nearest expiry

P/C OI Ratio

2.70

Put-heavy

Spot Price

$1074.01

Published close

Consensus

Open report for full read

Max Pain by Expiration

Pain by Strike

Drill into expiration

Selected: 2026-05-22

Expiration	Max Pain Strike	Last Updated
2026-05-08	$1000.00	5/8/2026, 11:10:06 PM
2026-05-15	$992.50	5/15/2026, 11:08:59 PM
2026-05-22NextUpdated	$1040.00	5/20/2026, 11:07:03 PM
2026-05-29	$1025.00	5/20/2026, 11:07:03 PM
2026-06-05	$1010.00	5/20/2026, 11:07:03 PM
2026-06-12	$1035.00	5/20/2026, 11:07:03 PM
2026-06-18	$990.00	5/20/2026, 11:07:03 PM
2026-06-26	$1020.00	5/20/2026, 11:07:03 PM
2026-07-17	$995.00	5/20/2026, 11:07:03 PM
2026-08-21	$960.00	5/20/2026, 11:07:03 PM
2026-09-18	$920.00	5/20/2026, 11:07:03 PM
2026-10-16	$1000.00	5/20/2026, 11:07:03 PM
2026-11-20	$960.00	5/20/2026, 11:07:03 PM
2026-12-18	$940.00	5/20/2026, 11:07:03 PM
2027-01-15	$920.00	5/20/2026, 11:07:03 PM
2027-03-19	$980.00	5/20/2026, 11:07:03 PM

Selected expiration: 2026-05-22 at max pain $1040.00.

COST pain by strike for 2026-05-22 expiration
Strike	Call Pain	Put Pain	Total Pain
540	0	962072000	962072000
550	3000	922281000	922284000
560	8000	882922000	882930000
570	13000	844138000	844151000
580	18000	807889000	807907000
590	23000	772372000	772395000
600	28000	737648000	737676000
610	33000	703826000	703859000
620	39000	671328000	671367000
630	46000	639915000	639961000
640	53000	609631000	609684000
650	60000	580112000	580172000
660	68000	550833000	550901000
670	76000	521855000	521931000
680	84000	497784000	497868000
690	92000	474611000	474703000
700	100000	452269000	452369000
710	108000	431142000	431250000
720	116000	410495000	410611000
735	128000	381795500	381923500

How to Read Max Pain

Compare pin-risk and strike-pressure across expirations from the latest published close.

What max pain measures

Max pain is the strike where option holders would collectively lose the most at expiration, based on open interest across the listed chain.

How traders use it

It is most useful as a possible pinning zone, especially when spot is already trading near a crowded strike into expiration.

What can break it

Strong directional flows, news, or fast spot moves can overwhelm any pinning tendency, so max pain should support a thesis rather than drive it alone.

The closer you are to expiration, the more useful this becomes as context and the less useful it is as a standalone prediction.