Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 3:29 AM ET

ZLAB max pain

Spot (delayed)$24.5
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$25+2.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.88±15.8% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI88.103K puts / 31 calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3062.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$82Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 20$25+2.0%25d
Fri, Dec 18$30+22.4%53d
Fri, Jan 15$25+2.0%81d
Fri, Mar 19$35+42.9%144d
Thu, Jun 17$25+2.0%234d
Fri, Dec 17$30+22.4%417d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot25151923273135$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, Nov 20

spot25152025353K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZLAB open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot25152025351515
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot151923273135208%58%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 70.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot15202535+$81K−$81K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.01150.01190.00-0.01-0.03
0.94-0.0117.50.02500.01-0.01-0.07
0.85-0.02200.05140.01-0.02-0.15
0.67-0.0322.50.08640.02-0.03-0.32
0.44-0.03250.09310.03-0.03-0.56
0.16-0.02300.04940.02-0.02-0.84
0.06-0.01350.02240.01-0.01-0.93

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

spot10152025352K0
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

spot2.51017.525407K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 17K 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: ZLAB workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk