Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 5:44 AM ET

ZEPP max pain

Spot (delayed)$5.42
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$7.5+38.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.8±51.7% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.28359 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$7.5largest put OI
IV30109.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2Kper 1% move

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$5-7.7%5d
Fri, Sep 18$5-7.7%33d
Fri, Dec 18$7.5+38.4%124d
Fri, Mar 19$2.5-53.9%215d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7.53712162125$2M$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 — 7.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot7.52.57.512.517.525437437
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZEPP 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

spot7.52.57.512.517.52511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot3712162125189%105%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 114.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot2.57.512.517.525+$893$893
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
0.92-0.002.50.03200.01-0.00-0.09
0.70-0.0150.10710.01-0.01-0.32
0.45-0.017.50.11480.01-0.01-0.57
0.34-0.01100.09170.01-0.01-0.68
0.29-0.0112.50.07640.01-0.01-0.74
0.26-0.01150.06640.01-0.01-0.78
0.23-0.0117.50.05940.01-0.01-0.80
0.21-0.01200.05420.01-0.01-0.82
0.19-0.01250.04680.01-0.01-0.85

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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5304510
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.530772772
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 461 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: ZEPP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk