Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 26, 8:50 AM ET

ZCSH max pain

Spot (delayed)$123.47
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$90-27.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$57.05±46.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.10118 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$100largest call OI
Put wall$90largest put OI
IV30121.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$78Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $80

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Oct 16$110-10.9%20d
Fri, Nov 20$110-10.9%55d
Fri, Dec 18$90-27.1%83d
Fri, Mar 19$65-47.4%174d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot905580105130155180$7M$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 — 90 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot905588100109124160388388
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZCSH 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

spot9055881001091241606868
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot5580105130155180126%119%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 123.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 80558598105120135+$26K−$26K
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
0.70-0.151080.00470.20-0.15-0.30
0.69-0.151090.00480.21-0.15-0.30
0.69-0.151100.00480.21-0.15-0.31
0.69-0.151110.00480.21-0.15-0.31
0.66-0.161150.00500.21-0.16-0.33
0.64-0.161200.00510.22-0.16-0.36
0.63-0.161220.00520.22-0.17-0.37
0.62-0.161230.00520.22-0.17-0.38
0.62-0.171240.00520.23-0.17-0.38
0.61-0.171250.00520.23-0.17-0.39
0.59-0.171300.00530.23-0.17-0.41
0.56-0.171350.00540.23-0.17-0.44
0.54-0.171400.00540.23-0.17-0.46
0.51-0.171450.00540.23-0.17-0.48
0.49-0.171500.00540.23-0.17-0.51

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 37 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot70941061171251454280
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

spot558093106119132453453
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 1K 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: ZCSH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk