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

ZETA max pain

Spot (delayed)$28.57
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$22.5-21.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.68±33.9% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.7010K puts / 15K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3060.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$230Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

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 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

spot22.531018253340$16M$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, Dec 18

spot22.52.51017.525407K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZETA 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

spot22.52.51017.525401K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot31018253340244%69%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 70.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 7.551015202535+$183K$183K
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
0.99100.00190.01-0.00-0.01
0.9812.50.00380.01-0.00-0.02
0.96-0.00150.00730.02-0.00-0.04
0.92-0.0017.50.01230.03-0.01-0.08
0.86-0.01200.01820.04-0.01-0.14
0.79-0.0122.50.02390.05-0.01-0.21
0.71-0.01250.02860.06-0.01-0.29
0.55-0.02300.03330.07-0.02-0.45
0.41-0.02350.03250.07-0.02-0.60
0.29-0.02400.02850.06-0.01-0.72

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 13 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