Option levels are price levels calculated not from candles but from positions in the options market: where the most contracts are open, where option sellers are best off at expiration, and what move the market prices in. They come from CME's daily reports and are drawn right on a futures or currency chart.
The key point up front: they are a map of where positions sit, not buy or sell signals and not guaranteed "support" and "resistance" levels.
What option levels consist of
- Max Pain — the price at which holders of a series would collectively receive the least at expiration. Many traders call it the expiration magnet: how to read Max Pain on a chart.
- Option walls — the strikes with the largest open interest in calls and puts near price. That is where most positions are concentrated.
- Expected move (±1σ) — the range the market prices in to expiration. Price leaves it regularly: it is an estimate, not a prediction.
- Open-interest balance — the "center of gravity" of positions across strikes: it shows where positions are skewed overall.
- PCR — the ratio of put open interest to call open interest. It describes positions but does not say who bought and who sold.
- Open-interest flows — strikes where the most new positions arrived during the day.
Where the data comes from
CME publishes a report once a day, after the close: open interest for every strike and every option series. Levels are calculated from it and then converted into your broker's prices. That is why they update once a day and do not show what happens inside the day. Live pages in the Analytics section show them for each instrument: gold, EUR/USD, S&P 500 and others.
How to read them on a chart
- Pick the series. Each instrument has several option series with different expiration dates. For the coming week the nearest series matters; for the broader picture, the main monthly one.
- Place price relative to the expected move. If price is near the ±1σ edge, the market has already priced in much of the move to expiration; in the middle of the range there is room left.
- See where positions are. Are walls and Max Pain near price, or far outside the range? A distant Max Pain says nothing.
- Cross-check with open interest. Is it growing at the nearest strikes or are positions being closed? Flows show that.
- Do not rely on a single level. Use them as context next to your own chart analysis.
Example: gold, CME data as of October 2, 2026
Gold futures settled at 4,175. Max Pain of the main series expiring November 24 was 4,375, 4.8% above price; the market priced in a move to expiration in a 3,905–4,445 range. Reading it step by step: positions sit above price, price is in the lower part of the expected range, and no conclusion about direction follows from these numbers — they describe where positions are, not the expected move. Current values are on the gold page.
What option levels do not do
- They do not predict price or set a direction.
- They do not show who is the buyer and who is the seller: open interest counts contracts.
- They do not guarantee a reaction at a level: treat them as context reference points, not as "walls" that must hold price.
- They do not update intraday: the report comes out once a day.
Questions and answers
Are option levels support and resistance?
No. They are places where positions in the options market are concentrated. Price may stop there or pass straight through; we do not promise a reliable reaction.
Which markets have them?
Those with options traded on CME: currency pairs (euro, pound, yen and others), gold, silver, copper, crude oil, natural gas, the S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow indices, as well as bitcoin and ether.
How often are option levels updated?
Once per trading day, after CME publishes its report.
How can I see them on a MetaTrader 5 chart?
The OLIMP indicator draws Max Pain, walls, the expected move and open interest right on the chart and updates them automatically; it is free on a live account — download.
This article describes open positions based on exchange data and is not investment advice.