State Street SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI) Max Pain Analysis
Max pain is the strike price where aggregate option buyer payout is minimized at expiration. It represents the price at which option writers retain the most premium.
State Street SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI) operates in the Financial Services sector, specifically the Asset Management industry, with a market capitalization near $8.35B, listed on AMEX, carrying a beta of 1.09 to the broader market. The State Street SPDR S&P Biotech ETF seeks to provide investment results that, before fees and expenses, correspond generally to the total return performance of the S&P Biotechnology Select Industry Index (the "Index")Seeks to provide exposure to the Biotechnology segment of the S&P TMI, which comprises the following sub-industries: BiotechnologySeeks to track a modified equal weighted index which provides the potential for unconcentrated industry exposure across large, mid and small cap stocksAllows investors to take strategic or tactical positions at a more targeted level than traditional sector based investing public since 2006-02-06.
Snapshot as of May 15, 2026.
- Spot Price
- $130.88
- Max Pain Strike
- $130.00
- Total OI
- 622.4K
As of May 15, 2026, State Street SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI) max pain sits at $130.00, which is below the current spot price of $130.88 (0.7% away). Spot sits within 2% of the max-pain level for State Street SPDR S&P Biotech ETF, the band where dealer hedging activity around the high-OI strikes can meaningfully reinforce a closing-week pin. XBI trades in the standard mid-price band (spot $130.88), with listed strikes typically $1-$5 apart and balanced single-leg vs multi-leg flow. Total open interest across the listed chain (622.4K contracts) is healthy but not dominant; pinning effects can show but are not guaranteed. XBI is currently in positive dealer gamma ($1.9M), the regime that mechanically reinforces pinning by inducing dealers to buy weakness and sell strength near heavy-OI strikes. Max pain identifies the strike at which the aggregate dollar value of all outstanding options contracts would expire with the least total intrinsic value, a gravitational reference rather than a price target.
XBI Strategy Implications at the Current Max Pain Level
With spot effectively pinned the $130.00 max-pain level and State Street SPDR S&P Biotech ETF in a positive-gamma regime, where dealer hedging mechanically pulls spot toward heavy-OI strikes, strategy selection turns on cycle position and dealer positioning. Iron condors and credit spreads centered near the max-pain strike capture the typical end-of-cycle convergence when the regime supports pinning; ratio backspreads or directional debit structures fit names where catalyst flow is likely to overwhelm the hedging-driven pull. The gamma-exposure page shows the per-strike dealer book that determines whether hedging will reinforce or fight the pin.
Learn how max pain is reported and how to read the data →
Frequently asked XBI max pain analysis questions
- What is the current XBI max pain strike?
- As of May 15, 2026, State Street SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI) max pain sits at $130.00, which is 0.7% below the current spot price of $130.88. Max pain identifies the strike at which aggregate option-buyer payouts at expiration are minimized; it is a gravitational reference, not a price target. At a 0.7% distance, XBI sits inside the band where dealer hedging can mechanically pull spot toward max pain during the closing week of the expiration cycle.
- Does XBI pin to its max pain strike at expiration?
- XBI is currently in positive dealer gamma, the regime that mechanically reinforces pinning. Dealers hedging long-gamma books buy weakness and sell strength near high-OI strikes, which pulls spot toward those levels into expiration. Total open interest across XBI (622.4K contracts) is one input to how plausible a clean pin is - heavier total OI concentrated at fewer strikes raises the probability; thin OI spread across many strikes lowers it. Pinning is strongest in heavily-traded names with large open-interest concentrations at high-OI strikes during the final week of an OPEX cycle. Whether XBI actually pins on a given expiration depends on the OI distribution, the dealer-gamma sign, and the absence of catalyst-driven moves that overwhelm hedging-driven flow.
- How is XBI max pain calculated?
- Max pain is computed by summing the dollar value of all in-the-money options at each candidate settlement strike across listed expirations, then selecting the strike that minimizes total intrinsic-value payout to option buyers. The calculation uses the full open-interest distribution and weighs both calls and puts. XBI put/call OI ratio is 1.55 - put-heavy, which biases the max-pain calculation toward strikes below current spot when the put OI concentrates there.