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

ZETA max pain

Spot (delayed)$28.57
Max pain · Fri, Sep 25$26.5-7.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.1±17.8% by Fri, Sep 25
Put/Call OI0.12427 puts / 4K calls
Call wall$27.5largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3060.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$164Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $27

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 14$24.5-14.2%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

spot26.5152025303540$4M$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 — 26.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot26.515222527.53032.52K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZETA open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 25.

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 25

spot26.515222527.53032.5159159
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot152025303540133%39%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 64.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spotflip 2715222527.53032.5+$122K$122K
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 25

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.78-0.02250.04900.03-0.02-0.23
0.75-0.0225.50.05240.03-0.02-0.25
0.72-0.02260.05550.03-0.02-0.28
0.69-0.0226.50.05820.04-0.02-0.32
0.66-0.03270.06050.04-0.03-0.35
0.62-0.0327.50.06230.04-0.03-0.38
0.59-0.03280.06360.04-0.03-0.41
0.56-0.0328.50.06440.04-0.03-0.45
0.53-0.03290.06480.04-0.03-0.48
0.49-0.0329.50.06480.04-0.03-0.51
0.46-0.03300.06430.04-0.03-0.54
0.43-0.0330.50.06350.04-0.03-0.57
0.41-0.03310.06230.04-0.03-0.60
0.38-0.0331.50.06090.04-0.03-0.63
0.35-0.03320.05920.04-0.03-0.65

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 30 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