Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 10:06 AM ET

ZETA max pain

Spot (delayed)$28.57
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$22.5-21.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.16±7.6% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.2410K puts / 42K calls
Call wall$24largest call OI
Put wall$17.5largest put OI
IV3060.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.4Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $20

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 14$24.5-14.2%1d
Fri, Aug 21$22.5-21.2%8d
Fri, Aug 28$24-16.0%15d
Fri, Sep 4$25-12.5%22d
Fri, Sep 11$25.5-10.7%29d
Fri, Sep 18$20-30.0%36d
Fri, Sep 25$26.5-7.2%43d
Fri, Dec 18$22.5-21.2%127d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot22.581421273440$63M$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 — 22.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot22.57.516202428329K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZETA open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 21.

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, Aug 21

spot22.57.516202428321K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot152025303540233%53%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 60.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 20151922.52629.533+$460K$460K
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, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.92-0.02250.05280.01-0.02-0.08
0.89-0.0325.50.06780.01-0.03-0.11
0.85-0.04260.08460.01-0.04-0.15
0.80-0.0426.50.10200.01-0.04-0.20
0.74-0.05270.11840.01-0.05-0.26
0.68-0.0627.50.13220.02-0.06-0.32
0.61-0.06280.14180.02-0.06-0.39
0.53-0.0628.50.14640.02-0.06-0.47
0.46-0.06290.14560.02-0.06-0.54
0.39-0.0629.50.14010.02-0.06-0.61
0.33-0.06300.13080.02-0.06-0.67
0.27-0.0530.50.11880.01-0.05-0.73
0.22-0.05310.10550.01-0.05-0.78
0.18-0.0431.50.09180.01-0.04-0.82
0.14-0.04320.07860.01-0.04-0.86

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 46 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1216.520.524.528.532.512K0
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

spot2.515.520.525.530.53751K51K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 240K call contracts, 97K 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: ZETA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk