What is LOCO max pain this week?

LOCO max pain for the nearest expiration (2026-06-18) is $12.00. Total call open interest: 86. Total put open interest: 43.

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 LOCOMax Pain

LOCO

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc.Close $14.15EOD only

Max Pain

$12.00

Next expiry Jun 18, 2026

Expected Move

±$0.57

4.1% from close

Price Gap

-2.15

Distance to max pain

IV Rank

Low premium

P/C OI

0.73

Slightly call-heavy

Consensus

—

No reports available

Published snapshot: May 20, 2026 close

End-of-day snapshot

This page reflects LOCO 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 — LOCO

Data as of market close May 20, 2026

Nearest listed expiration 2026-06-18 shows max pain at $12.00 (2.15 below spot). Use this page to evaluate pin-risk zones, strike pressure, and open-interest concentration before selecting trade structure.

Max Pain Strike

$12.00

Nearest expiry

Expected Move

±$0.57

±4.1%

Days to Expiry

Calendar days

Total Call OI

Nearest expiry

Total Put OI

Nearest expiry

P/C OI Ratio

0.50

Put-heavy

Spot Price

$14.15

Published close

Consensus

Open report for full read

Max Pain by Expiration

Pain by Strike

Drill into expiration

Selected: 2026-06-18

Expiration	Max Pain Strike	Last Updated
2026-04-17	$13.00	4/17/2026, 11:17:40 PM
2026-05-15	$12.00	5/15/2026, 11:23:37 PM
2026-06-18NextUpdated	$12.00	5/20/2026, 11:18:21 PM
2026-09-18	$13.00	5/20/2026, 11:18:21 PM
2026-12-18	$14.00	5/20/2026, 11:18:21 PM

Selected expiration: 2026-06-18 at max pain $12.00.

LOCO pain by strike for 2026-06-18 expiration
Strike	Call Pain	Put Pain	Total Pain
8	0	14900	14900
9	200	11200	11400
10	500	8500	9000
11	1300	5900	7200
12	3600	3400	7000
13	7800	1000	8800
14	14900	700	15600
15	23400	400	23800
16	32000	100	32100
17	40600	0	40600

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.