Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 12:46 AM ET

ZETA max pain

Spot (delayed)$28.36
Max pain · Fri, Aug 28$24-15.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.03±10.7% by Fri, Aug 28
Put/Call OI0.472K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$18largest put OI
IV3060.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$173Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $14

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 14$24.5-13.6%1d
Fri, Aug 21$20-29.5%8d
Fri, Aug 28$24-15.4%15d
Fri, Sep 4$24.5-13.6%22d
Fri, Sep 11$25.5-10.1%29d
Fri, Sep 18$20-29.5%36d
Fri, Sep 25$26-8.3%43d
Fri, Dec 18$22.5-20.7%127d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot24131824293540$5M$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 — 24 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 28

spot24131821.52528.5321K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZETA open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 28.

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 28

spot24131821.52528.5321K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 28

spot131823283338232%49%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 63.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 28

spotflip 141418.52225.52932.5+$115K$115K
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 28

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.86-0.03250.05860.01-0.03-0.14
0.83-0.0325.50.06830.01-0.03-0.17
0.79-0.03260.07800.02-0.03-0.21
0.74-0.0426.50.08720.02-0.04-0.26
0.70-0.04270.09520.02-0.04-0.30
0.65-0.0427.50.10160.02-0.04-0.35
0.59-0.04280.10600.02-0.04-0.41
0.54-0.0528.50.10810.02-0.05-0.46
0.48-0.05290.10800.02-0.05-0.52
0.43-0.0529.50.10600.02-0.05-0.57
0.38-0.04300.10220.02-0.04-0.62
0.34-0.0430.50.09710.02-0.04-0.66
0.29-0.04310.09100.02-0.04-0.71
0.26-0.0431.50.08440.02-0.04-0.74
0.22-0.04320.07740.02-0.04-0.78

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 41 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1216.520.524.528.532.59K0
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

spot2.515.520.525.530.53846K46K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 233K call contracts, 93K 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