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

ZS max pain

Spot (delayed)$260.15
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$180-30.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$84.73±32.6% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.126K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$220largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3064.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$411Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $220

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$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

spot18060124188252316380$86M$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 — 180 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot18060100140180240320695695
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZS open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 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, Mar 19

spot180601001401802403202929
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot60124188252316380122%65%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 65.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 22065105145185250330+$85K−$85K
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.83-0.091950.00230.42-0.10-0.18
0.81-0.102000.00250.44-0.10-0.19
0.78-0.112100.00270.49-0.11-0.23
0.74-0.122200.00300.53-0.12-0.26
0.71-0.122300.00320.56-0.13-0.29
0.67-0.132400.00330.59-0.14-0.33
0.64-0.142500.00350.61-0.14-0.37
0.60-0.142600.00360.63-0.14-0.41
0.57-0.142700.00370.64-0.15-0.44
0.53-0.142800.00370.65-0.15-0.48
0.50-0.152900.00370.65-0.15-0.51
0.46-0.143000.00370.65-0.15-0.55
0.43-0.143100.00370.64-0.14-0.58
0.40-0.143200.00360.63-0.14-0.61
0.37-0.143300.00350.62-0.14-0.64

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 46 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