Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 3:30 AM ET

ZBIO max pain

Spot (delayed)$26.87
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$30+11.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.5±35.4% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI3.009 puts / 3 calls
Call wall$45largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV30113.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$127per 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Nov 20$20-25.6%25d
Fri, Dec 18$25-7.0%53d
Fri, Jan 15$10-62.8%81d
Fri, Feb 19$30+11.6%116d
Fri, Mar 19$22.5-16.3%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot30152127333945$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 — 30 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot301525304555
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZBIO open contracts per strike for Fri, Feb 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, Feb 19

spot301525304511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot152127333945153%68%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 80.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot15253045+$91−$91
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, Feb 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.89-0.01150.01080.03-0.01-0.11
0.65-0.02250.02710.06-0.02-0.34
0.51-0.02300.03090.06-0.02-0.49
0.18-0.01450.02170.04-0.01-0.83

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

spot512.5203045601K0
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

spot2.51017.52540554K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 4K 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: ZBIO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk