Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 8:19 PM ET

ZBRA max pain

Spot (delayed)$376.88
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$280-25.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$53.9±14.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.22861 puts / 706 calls
Call wall$380largest call OI
Put wall$240largest put OI
IV3046.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$209Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $380

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, Oct 16$360-4.5%2d
Fri, Nov 20$350-7.1%37d
Fri, Dec 18$280-25.7%65d
Fri, Feb 19$350-7.1%128d
Fri, May 21$340-9.8%219d
Fri, Aug 20$410+8.8%310d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot280110200290380470560$15M$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 — 280 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot280110160210300390480153153
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZBRA open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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, Dec 18

spot2801101602103003904803838
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot110200290380470560148%40%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 42.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 380170210280350420500+$123K−$123K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.87-0.123100.00280.34-0.12-0.13
0.83-0.133200.00340.40-0.14-0.17
0.80-0.153300.00390.45-0.16-0.21
0.75-0.173400.00440.50-0.17-0.25
0.70-0.183500.00490.55-0.19-0.30
0.65-0.193600.00530.59-0.20-0.35
0.59-0.203700.00570.62-0.20-0.41
0.54-0.203800.00590.63-0.21-0.47
0.48-0.203900.00590.63-0.21-0.53
0.42-0.204000.00590.62-0.20-0.59
0.37-0.194100.00570.60-0.19-0.64
0.32-0.184200.00540.57-0.18-0.70
0.27-0.174300.00500.53-0.17-0.75
0.23-0.154400.00460.48-0.15-0.79
0.19-0.144500.00410.43-0.14-0.83

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 53 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1101852503304104902510
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

spot1051552103104105102K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 5K 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: ZBRA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk