Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 3:40 PM ET

ZIM max pain

Spot (delayed)$28.18
Max pain · Fri, Sep 4$27-4.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.79±9.9% by Fri, Sep 4
Put/Call OI3.46367 puts / 106 calls
Call wall$27largest call OI
Put wall$24largest put OI
IV3043.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$9Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $23

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

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$25-11.3%5d
Fri, Aug 28$25-11.3%12d
Fri, Sep 4$27-4.2%19d
Fri, Sep 11$25-11.3%26d
Fri, Sep 18$25-11.3%33d
Fri, Sep 25$25-11.3%40d
Fri, Oct 16$26-7.7%61d
Fri, Dec 18$27-4.2%124d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot27212325262830$1M$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 — 27 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot272124262830122122
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZIM open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 4.

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 4

spot2721242628301212
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot21232526283091%28%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 66.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spotflip 232124262830+$5K$5K
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 4

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.94-0.02210.02090.01-0.02-0.06
0.90-0.02230.03670.01-0.02-0.10
0.86-0.02240.04900.01-0.02-0.14
0.82-0.03250.06530.02-0.03-0.18
0.75-0.03260.08580.02-0.03-0.25
0.66-0.03270.10830.03-0.03-0.34
0.55-0.03280.12560.03-0.03-0.45
0.42-0.03290.12770.03-0.03-0.58
0.31-0.03300.11340.02-0.03-0.70

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1922.524.526.528.5315K0
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

spot2.16142125.5303819K19K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 135K call contracts, 99K 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: ZIM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk