TLDR: Options max pain is the strike price at which the largest dollar value of options expires worthless, leaving option buyers with the maximum aggregate loss. Because option sellers, often market makers, profit when price settles near that level, price frequently drifts toward max pain as expiry approaches. On 2026-06-23, with BTC spot near $62,298, Athenum's options panel put the 26.06.2026 max pain at $72,000, about 13.5 percent above spot, on roughly $10.1 billion of expiring notional. This guide explains how the max-pain price is built, what the put/call ratio adds, and how to read both without spreadsheet work.
What is options max pain?
Max pain is the expiry price at which the total payout to option holders is the smallest, which is the same as the price where option writers keep the most premium. At that level the largest notional of contracts expires out of the money. It is a positioning map, not a forecast: it tells you where the open contracts are clustered, not where price must go.
How is the max-pain price calculated?
The strike is found by testing each candidate settlement price and summing what every open option would pay out there. The method, in four steps:
1. List every open call and put strike for the expiry, each with its open interest.
2. For each candidate settlement price, compute the in-the-money payout of every call and put at that price, weighted by its open interest.
3. Sum those payouts across all strikes to get the total holder payout at that candidate price.
4. The max-pain price is the candidate that produces the smallest total, which is where option writers retain the most premium.
Because the inputs are open interest, the result is a snapshot that shifts as positioning changes, so the max-pain strike can move from one day to the next even if spot does not.
Why does price often gravitate toward max pain?
Two mechanics pull spot toward the max-pain strike into expiry. First, traders who are short options, frequently market makers, hedge their exposure by trading the underlying, and that hedging tends to dampen moves away from the heavily written strikes. Second, as expiry nears and time value decays, the open interest concentrated around max pain dominates the settlement math, so its pull grows. The effect is a tendency, not a law. A strong macro catalyst or a liquidation cascade easily overrides it, which is why max pain is read alongside spot, funding, and open interest rather than on its own.
What does the put/call ratio add?
The put/call ratio (PCR) measures sentiment by dividing put activity by call activity for an expiry. A PCR above 1.0 means more puts than calls, often read as defensive or bearish positioning. A PCR below about 0.7 leans call heavy, often read as bullish, and extreme readings are sometimes treated as contrarian. PCR is most useful per expiry, because a single near-dated date can look very different from a quarterly one.
What did the live max pain map show on 2026-06-23?
Athenum's BTC options view on 2026-06-23, with spot near $62,298, lined the expiries up like this. The large quarterly-style dates carry max-pain strikes well above spot, while the very near dailies sit close to it.
24.06.2026 (1 day out): max pain $64,000, put/call ratio 1.432, about $193M notional.
25.06.2026 (2 days out): max pain $63,500, put/call ratio 0.774, about $111M notional.
26.06.2026 (3 days out): max pain $72,000, put/call ratio 0.817, about $10.1B notional.
27.06.2026 (4 days out): max pain $61,500, put/call ratio 0.361, about $38M notional.
31.07.2026 (38 days out): max pain $67,000, put/call ratio 0.365, about $3.95B notional.
Three readings stand out. The 26.06.2026 expiry concentrates about $10.1 billion of notional at a $72,000 max pain, roughly 13.5 percent above the $62,298 spot, with a balanced 0.82 put/call ratio. The very next day, 24.06.2026, is the only near-dated expiry with a PCR above 1.0 (1.432), a small but defensive lean on just $193 million. The end-of-July expiry holds $3.95 billion at $67,000 with a call-heavy 0.365 PCR.
How do you read Athenum's max pain panel?
Athenum options panel, BTC max pain by expiry on 2026-06-23. Options data source: Deribit.
Athenum is a read-only crypto-derivatives data terminal that aggregates funding, open interest, liquidations, CVD, options max pain, and ETF flows across 14 exchanges. The options panel shown above surfaces the max-pain strike, the put/call ratio, the expiring notional, and days to expiry for each BTC and ETH date, with the options data sourced from Deribit, the dominant venue for crypto options. You read it top down: the headline card gives spot, the nearest max pain, the PCR, and days left, then the table lets you compare how positioning shifts from the next daily out to the quarterlies. It is a live self-serve terminal at https://athenum.xyz, and the surrounding derivatives math, from funding to basis, is covered by 28 free calculators at https://athenum.xyz/tools.
How should you actually use max pain?
Treat max pain as context, not a signal. Use it to see where option open interest is clustered, then ask whether the broader tape agrees. If spot sits far below a heavily written max pain into a large expiry, as on 26.06.2026, that gap is a magnet only when nothing stronger is in control. Cross-check it against open interest, funding, and the liquidation map in the same terminal before drawing a conclusion. The number tells you where the crowd is positioned. The move still depends on flow.
Key takeaways
Max pain is the expiry price that minimizes total option payouts, which is where the most contracts expire worthless.
The drift toward max pain into expiry comes from dealer hedging and time decay, but a strong catalyst overrides it.
The put/call ratio is best read per expiry: above 1.0 is defensive, below about 0.7 is call heavy.
On 2026-06-23, BTC max pain for the 26.06.2026 expiry was $72,000 on about $10.1 billion of notional, roughly 13.5 percent above spot.
Read it in context: max pain sits alongside open interest, funding, and liquidations, never in isolation.
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