Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 10:01 AM ET

ZM max pain

Spot (delayed)$95.7
Max pain · Fri, Nov 6$94-1.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.17±6.4% by Fri, Nov 6
Put/Call OI0.80824 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$103largest call OI
Put wall$82largest put OI
IV3047.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$179Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $101

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

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 30$95-0.7%4d
Fri, Nov 6$94-1.8%11d
Fri, Nov 13$96+0.3%18d
Fri, Nov 20$95-0.7%25d
Fri, Nov 27$95-0.7%32d
Fri, Dec 4$105+9.7%39d
Fri, Dec 18$85-11.2%53d
Fri, Jan 15$92.5-3.3%81d
Fri, Feb 19$95-0.7%116d
Fri, Mar 19$100+4.5%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot94708294106118130$3M$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 — 94 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 6

spot9470849198105125412412
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZM open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 6.

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 6

spot9470849198105125103103
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 6

spot708294106118130111%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 41.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 6

spotflip 10170849198105125+$135K−$135K
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 6

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.81-0.08890.03160.05-0.08-0.19
0.78-0.09900.03530.06-0.09-0.22
0.74-0.10910.03880.06-0.10-0.26
0.70-0.10920.04220.07-0.10-0.30
0.66-0.11930.04500.07-0.11-0.34
0.61-0.11940.04730.07-0.11-0.39
0.56-0.11950.04880.07-0.12-0.44
0.52-0.12960.04950.07-0.12-0.49
0.47-0.12970.04940.07-0.12-0.54
0.42-0.11980.04850.07-0.12-0.59
0.37-0.11990.04690.07-0.11-0.63
0.33-0.101000.04460.07-0.11-0.68
0.29-0.101010.04200.06-0.10-0.72
0.25-0.091020.03900.06-0.10-0.76
0.22-0.091030.03580.06-0.09-0.79

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 37 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot7587941011081159640
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

spot3062.5839310411631K31K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 173K call contracts, 76K 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: ZM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk