Lincoln National Corporation (LNC) 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.
Lincoln National Corporation (LNC) operates in the Financial Services sector, specifically the Insurance - Life industry, with a market capitalization near $6.51B, listed on NYSE, employing roughly 9,783 people, carrying a beta of 1.19 to the broader market. Lincoln National Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates multiple insurance and retirement businesses in the United States. Led by Ellen R. Gail Cooper, public since 1980-03-17.
Snapshot as of May 14, 2026.
- Spot Price
- $34.44
- Max Pain Strike
- $35.00
- Total OI
- 74.3K
As of May 14, 2026, Lincoln National Corporation (LNC) max pain sits at $35.00, which is above the current spot price of $34.44 (1.6% away). Spot sits within 2% of the max-pain level for Lincoln National Corporation, the band where dealer hedging activity around the high-OI strikes can meaningfully reinforce a closing-week pin. LNC sits in the lower-price band (spot $34.44), where $0.50-$2.50 strike spacing makes pin-to-strike effects easy to spot but per-contract dollar gamma is smaller. Total open interest across the listed chain is comparatively thin (74.3K contracts), so single-strike pinning is less reliable than it is for high-OI names. LNC is currently in negative dealer gamma (-$1.6M), a regime that amplifies directional moves rather than damping them, weakening the pin-toward-max-pain bias. 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.
LNC Strategy Implications at the Current Max Pain Level
With spot 1.6% from the $35.00 max-pain level and Lincoln National Corporation in a negative-gamma regime, where dealer hedging amplifies directional moves and weakens any pin, 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 →
LNC highest open-interest contracts
| Type | Strike | Expiration | Volume | OI | IV | Bid | Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PUT | $35.00 | Jun 18, 2026 | 19 | 3.0K | 34.6% | $1.60 | $1.80 |
Top 1 contracts from the ORATS-sourced nightly scan; ranked by oi within the broader S&P 500/400/600 + ETF universe.
Frequently asked LNC max pain analysis questions
- What is the current LNC max pain strike?
- As of May 14, 2026, Lincoln National Corporation (LNC) max pain sits at $35.00, which is 1.6% above the current spot price of $34.44. 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 1.6% distance, LNC sits inside the band where dealer hedging can mechanically pull spot toward max pain during the closing week of the expiration cycle.
- Does LNC pin to its max pain strike at expiration?
- LNC is currently in negative dealer gamma, a regime that amplifies directional moves rather than damping them. The pin-toward-max-pain bias weakens here because dealer hedging adds momentum rather than mean reversion. Total open interest across LNC (74.3K 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 LNC 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 LNC 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. LNC put/call OI ratio is 1.29 - balanced, so the max-pain calculation reflects the strike where the call and put OI distributions cross rather than a single dominant side.