Ross Stores, Inc. (ROST) 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.
Ross Stores, Inc. (ROST) operates in the Consumer Cyclical sector, specifically the Apparel - Retail industry, with a market capitalization near $68.49B, listed on NASDAQ, employing roughly 107,000 people, carrying a beta of 0.88 to the broader market. Ross Stores, Inc. Led by James G. Conroy, public since 1985-08-08.
Snapshot as of May 15, 2026.
- Spot Price
- $212.45
- Max Pain Strike
- $210.00
- Total OI
- 43.2K
As of May 15, 2026, Ross Stores, Inc. (ROST) max pain sits at $210.00, which is below the current spot price of $212.45 (1.2% away). Spot sits within 2% of the max-pain level for Ross Stores, Inc., the band where dealer hedging activity around the high-OI strikes can meaningfully reinforce a closing-week pin. ROST trades in the standard mid-price band (spot $212.45), with listed strikes typically $1-$5 apart and balanced single-leg vs multi-leg flow. Total open interest across the listed chain is comparatively thin (43.2K contracts), so single-strike pinning is less reliable than it is for high-OI names. ROST is currently in negative dealer gamma (-$1.4M), 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.
ROST Strategy Implications at the Current Max Pain Level
With spot 1.2% from the $210.00 max-pain level and Ross Stores, Inc. 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 →
Frequently asked ROST max pain analysis questions
- What is the current ROST max pain strike?
- As of May 15, 2026, Ross Stores, Inc. (ROST) max pain sits at $210.00, which is 1.2% below the current spot price of $212.45. 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 1.2% distance, ROST sits inside the band where dealer hedging can mechanically pull spot toward max pain during the closing week of the expiration cycle.
- Does ROST pin to its max pain strike at expiration?
- ROST 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 ROST (43.2K 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 ROST 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 ROST 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. ROST put/call OI ratio is 1.28 - balanced, so the max-pain calculation reflects the strike where the call and put OI distributions cross rather than a single dominant side.