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

ZM max pain

Spot (delayed)$95.7
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$95-0.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$18.65±19.5% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.681K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$135largest call OI
Put wall$92.5largest put OI
IV3047.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$54Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $65

Event risk before this expiration: 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, 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

spot95436690113137160$9M$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, Feb 19

spot9542.5708597.5120145326326
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZM open contracts per strike for Fri, Feb 19.

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, Feb 19

spot9542.5708597.512014577
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot43669011313716061%41%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 42.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 6542.5708597.5120145+$25K−$25K
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, Feb 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.84-0.0377.50.00970.13-0.03-0.16
0.81-0.03800.01090.15-0.03-0.19
0.78-0.0382.50.01210.16-0.03-0.22
0.75-0.03850.01320.18-0.03-0.26
0.71-0.0487.50.01420.19-0.04-0.30
0.67-0.04900.01500.20-0.04-0.34
0.63-0.0492.50.01570.21-0.04-0.38
0.59-0.04950.01620.21-0.04-0.42
0.55-0.0497.50.01650.22-0.04-0.46
0.51-0.041000.01670.22-0.04-0.51
0.43-0.041050.01640.21-0.04-0.59
0.36-0.041100.01560.20-0.04-0.66
0.29-0.041150.01440.19-0.04-0.73
0.24-0.031200.01290.17-0.04-0.79
0.19-0.031250.01140.15-0.03-0.84

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 29 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