Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 4:25 AM ET

MZTI max pain

Spot (delayed)$115.69
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$60-48.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$21.85±18.9% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.072 puts / 30 calls
Call wall$95largest call OI
Put wall$90largest put OI
IV3035.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $90

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$110-4.9%4d
Fri, Sep 18$115-0.6%32d
Fri, Dec 18$115-0.6%123d
Fri, Mar 19$60-48.1%214d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot60607488102116130$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 — 60 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot606090951151201302020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MZTI open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

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, Mar 19

spot6060909511512013011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot60748810211613046%28%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 31.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 90609095115120130+$2K$2K
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.00600.00160.05-0.01-0.03
0.85-0.02900.00700.20-0.02-0.16
0.81-0.02950.00850.24-0.02-0.20
0.58-0.021150.01440.34-0.02-0.44
0.50-0.021200.01510.35-0.02-0.51
0.36-0.021300.01470.33-0.02-0.66

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

spot801001151301451706790
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

spot5585115145175210682682
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 842 call contracts, 200 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 · GEX, defined · pin risk