Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 11:25 AM ET

ZETA max pain

Spot (delayed)$28.6
Max pain · Fri, Sep 11$25.5-10.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.94±13.8% by Fri, Sep 11
Put/Call OI2.733K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$24.5largest put OI
IV3060.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$57Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 14$24.5-14.3%1d
Fri, Aug 21$22.5-21.3%8d
Fri, Aug 28$24-16.1%15d
Fri, Sep 4$25-12.6%22d
Fri, Sep 11$25.5-10.8%29d
Fri, Sep 18$20-30.1%36d
Fri, Sep 25$26.5-7.3%43d
Fri, Dec 18$22.5-21.3%127d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot25.5162024293337$3M$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 — 25.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spot25.51619.522.525.530343K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZETA open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 11.

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, Sep 11

spot25.51619.522.525.53034108108
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spot162024293337170%51%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 59.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spot1619.522.525.53034+$100K$100K
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, Sep 11

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.84-0.0224.50.04910.02-0.02-0.16
0.81-0.02250.05470.02-0.02-0.19
0.78-0.0225.50.06020.03-0.02-0.22
0.74-0.03260.06530.03-0.03-0.26
0.71-0.0326.50.06980.03-0.03-0.29
0.67-0.03270.07360.03-0.03-0.33
0.59-0.03280.07860.03-0.03-0.41
0.51-0.03290.08000.03-0.03-0.49
0.43-0.03300.07810.03-0.03-0.57
0.36-0.03310.07380.03-0.03-0.64
0.33-0.0331.50.07090.03-0.03-0.67
0.30-0.03320.06780.03-0.03-0.70
0.27-0.0332.50.06440.03-0.03-0.73
0.25-0.03330.06080.03-0.03-0.76
0.20-0.02340.05360.02-0.02-0.80

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 34 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