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

ZIM max pain

Spot (delayed)$28.18
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$27-4.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.32±18.9% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.2121K puts / 17K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$27largest put OI
IV3043.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$16Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $20

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 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

spot2731018253340$46M$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, Dec 18

spot273101725324011K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZIM 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

spot2731017253240437437
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot31018253340163%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 41.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 20313202735+$408K$408K
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
1.00100.00200.01-0.00-0.01
1.00130.00020.01-0.00-0.02
1.000.00150.00320.00-0.00-0.04
0.98-0.01170.01280.01-0.00-0.06
0.92-0.01200.03030.02-0.01-0.11
0.85-0.01220.03970.04-0.01-0.17
0.71-0.01250.05510.05-0.01-0.30
0.58-0.01270.06260.06-0.01-0.41
0.39-0.01300.06310.06-0.01-0.59
0.27-0.01320.05560.05-0.01-0.70
0.15-0.01350.03880.04-0.01-0.82
0.09-0.00370.02820.03-0.00-0.87
0.05-0.00400.01640.02-0.00-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. 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