Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 8:22 PM ET

MZTI max pain

Spot (delayed)$107.81
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$105-2.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.33±7.7% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.9272 puts / 78 calls
Call wall$110largest call OI
Put wall$95largest put OI
IV3033.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$16Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $110

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 20$105-2.6%24d
Fri, Dec 18$110+2.0%52d
Fri, Mar 19$100-7.2%143d
Thu, Jun 17$115+6.7%233d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot105859299106113120$1M$0
■ put-side pain■ call-side painTotal payout option writers would owe at each settle price (both sides, all open interest, ×100 shares) — low settles hurt put writers, high settles hurt call writers. The minimum — 105 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot10585951051154545
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MZTI open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

Open-interest change: building vs unwinding

Needs two observed snapshot days for this expiration; the comparison appears automatically once the next weekday snapshot lands. We diff real observations only; nothing is estimated.

Volume by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot105859510511511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot859299106113120104%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 1108595105115+$17K−$17K
Net dealer gamma per strike, in dollars per 1% move, assuming the standard convention (dealers long calls, short puts) — an assumption, not an observation. Above the amber flip level hedging tends to dampen moves; below it, to amplify them.

Greeks by strike · Fri, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.04850.00650.03-0.04-0.06
0.92-0.04900.01010.04-0.05-0.08
0.87-0.06950.01600.06-0.06-0.13
0.79-0.071000.02540.08-0.07-0.21
0.65-0.081050.03740.10-0.08-0.36
0.45-0.081100.04260.11-0.08-0.56
0.27-0.071150.03400.09-0.07-0.75
0.16-0.051200.02300.07-0.06-0.86

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot60901051201351200
Call open interest per strike, stacked across the checked expirations — each color is one expiry. Strikes are pruned to the liquid center of each chain.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot5580105130155180120120
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 366 call contracts, 224 put contracts open.

Reading this honestly

Max pain is arithmetic, not prophecy: the settle price that would minimize what option writers pay out at expiration, computed from open interest alone. Prices sometimes gravitate toward heavy strikes into expiry — dealer hedging is a real flow — but the evidence that max pain predicts settlement better than chance is mixed, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Use it as a map of where positioning is stacked, next to the fundamentals and the earnings calendar, not as a target.

Data: Cboe delayed public feed (~15 minutes), refreshed here about every 15 minutes. Open interest itself updates once daily, before the open. Educational information, not investment advice.

Keep going: MZTI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk