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

ZM max pain

Spot (delayed)$95.7
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$95-0.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.95±9.4% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.2010K puts / 49K calls
Call wall$110largest call OI
Put wall$85largest put OI
IV3047.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$7.1Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $100

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

spot95406590115140165$261M$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 — 95 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot954072.5879510413512K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZM 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

spot954072.58795104135160160
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot507396119142165165%39%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 42.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 10047.577.587.595103125+$3.2M−$3.2M
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
0.73-0.07900.02860.09-0.07-0.27
0.70-0.07910.03020.09-0.07-0.30
0.67-0.07920.03170.10-0.07-0.34
0.65-0.0792.50.03240.10-0.08-0.35
0.64-0.08930.03300.10-0.08-0.37
0.60-0.08940.03410.10-0.08-0.40
0.57-0.08950.03480.10-0.08-0.44
0.53-0.08960.03530.11-0.08-0.47
0.50-0.08970.03540.11-0.08-0.51
0.48-0.0897.50.03540.11-0.08-0.53
0.46-0.08980.03530.11-0.08-0.55
0.43-0.08990.03490.10-0.08-0.58
0.40-0.081000.03420.10-0.08-0.61
0.36-0.071010.03330.10-0.08-0.65
0.33-0.071020.03220.10-0.07-0.68

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 57 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