Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 8:15 PM ET

ZS max pain

Spot (delayed)$260.15
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$190-27.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$31.47±12.1% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.8017K puts / 21K calls
Call wall$220largest call OI
Put wall$200largest put OI
IV3064.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$6.3Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $220

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$220-15.4%3d
Fri, Nov 6$232.5-10.6%10d
Fri, Nov 13$225-13.5%17d
Fri, Nov 20$190-27.0%24d
Fri, Nov 27$225-13.5%31d
Fri, Dec 4$245-5.8%38d
Fri, Dec 18$180-30.8%52d
Fri, Jan 15$180-30.8%80d
Fri, Feb 19$120-53.9%115d
Fri, Mar 19$180-30.8%143d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot19060124188252316380$323M$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 — 190 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot190601101501902252603K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZS 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

spot19060110150190225260294294
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot60124188252316380220%58%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 59.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 220130160190215240280+$1.4M−$1.4M
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
0.83-0.21227.50.00620.17-0.21-0.17
0.81-0.222300.00660.18-0.23-0.19
0.78-0.252350.00750.20-0.25-0.23
0.73-0.272400.00820.22-0.27-0.27
0.69-0.292450.00890.24-0.29-0.31
0.64-0.312500.00940.25-0.31-0.36
0.59-0.322550.00980.26-0.32-0.41
0.54-0.332600.01000.27-0.33-0.46
0.44-0.332700.01000.26-0.33-0.56
0.35-0.302800.00940.25-0.31-0.65
0.27-0.272900.00830.22-0.27-0.73
0.20-0.233000.00710.19-0.23-0.80
0.11-0.163200.00460.13-0.16-0.90
0.08-0.133300.00370.10-0.13-0.93
0.02-0.043800.00100.03-0.03-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 48 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot140177.5202.5227.5252.5277.51K0
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

spot601201802202703808K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 116K call contracts, 97K 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: ZS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk