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

ZIM max pain

Spot (delayed)$28.18
Max pain · Fri, Sep 25$25-11.3% vs spot
Put/Call OI1.509 puts / 6 calls
Call wall$27largest call OI
Put wall$22largest put OI
IV3043.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$181per 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 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

spot25202223252628$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 — 25 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot2520222526272877
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZIM 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

spot2520222526272811
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot20222325262891%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 47.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spotflip 27202225262728+$160$160
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
0.97-0.01200.01750.01-0.01-0.04
0.93-0.01220.03250.01-0.01-0.08
0.79-0.02250.06840.03-0.01-0.21
0.72-0.02260.08270.03-0.02-0.28
0.63-0.02270.09480.04-0.02-0.37
0.53-0.02280.10130.04-0.02-0.47

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