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

ZBRA max pain

Spot (delayed)$376.88
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$350-7.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$75±19.9% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI2.682K puts / 767 calls
Call wall$430largest call OI
Put wall$270largest put OI
IV3046.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$125Kper 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, 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

spot350135220305390475560$29M$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 — 350 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot3501352503203904605302K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZBRA 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

spot35013525032039046053066
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot135220305390475560104%40%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 42.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot175270330390450510+$319K−$319K
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
0.82-0.083100.00260.58-0.10-0.18
0.79-0.093200.00290.64-0.11-0.21
0.76-0.103300.00320.70-0.12-0.24
0.72-0.113400.00340.75-0.13-0.28
0.69-0.123500.00370.79-0.13-0.32
0.65-0.133600.00390.83-0.14-0.36
0.61-0.133700.00410.86-0.14-0.40
0.56-0.143800.00420.88-0.14-0.45
0.52-0.143900.00430.89-0.14-0.49
0.48-0.144000.00430.89-0.14-0.53
0.44-0.144100.00430.88-0.14-0.58
0.40-0.134200.00420.86-0.13-0.62
0.36-0.134300.00410.84-0.13-0.66
0.33-0.124400.00400.81-0.12-0.70
0.29-0.124500.00380.77-0.11-0.73

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 39 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