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

ZM max pain

Spot (delayed)$95.7
Max pain · Fri, Nov 13$96+0.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.01±8.4% by Fri, Nov 13
Put/Call OI0.84779 puts / 929 calls
Call wall$105largest call OI
Put wall$85largest put OI
IV3047.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$71Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $107

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, 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

spot96798999110120130$2M$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 — 96 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot96798693100107114292292
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZM open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 13.

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 13

spot967986931001071147878
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot79899911012013078%36%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 43.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spotflip 107798693100107114+$73K−$73K
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 13

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.78-0.07890.02920.07-0.07-0.22
0.75-0.08900.03160.07-0.08-0.26
0.71-0.08910.03390.08-0.08-0.29
0.68-0.09920.03600.08-0.09-0.32
0.64-0.09930.03770.09-0.09-0.36
0.60-0.09940.03910.09-0.09-0.40
0.56-0.09950.04000.09-0.09-0.44
0.52-0.09960.04050.09-0.10-0.48
0.48-0.09970.04060.09-0.10-0.52
0.44-0.09980.04020.09-0.09-0.56
0.40-0.09990.03940.09-0.09-0.60
0.37-0.091000.03830.09-0.09-0.64
0.33-0.091010.03680.08-0.09-0.68
0.30-0.081020.03500.08-0.08-0.71
0.27-0.081030.03310.08-0.08-0.74

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 40 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