Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 11, 11:38 PM ET

ZSL max pain

Spot (delayed)$24.71
Max pain · Fri, Aug 14$26+5.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.73±7.0% by Fri, Aug 14
Put/Call OI0.56490 puts / 876 calls
Call wall$32largest call OI
Put wall$26largest put OI
IV3088.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $21

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 14$26+5.2%2d
Fri, Aug 21$26+5.2%9d
Fri, Aug 28$28+13.3%16d
Fri, Sep 4$32+29.5%23d
Fri, Sep 11$32+29.5%30d
Fri, Sep 18$26+5.2%37d
Fri, Sep 25$24-2.9%44d
Fri, Nov 20$20-19.1%100d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot26202429333842$1M$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 — 26 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 14

spot262025.528.53235.540226226
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZSL open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 14.

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, Aug 14

spot262025.528.53235.5405858
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 14

spot202429333842340%77%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 94.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 14

spotflip 212025.528.53235.541+$8K$8K
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, Aug 14

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.04200.02790.00-0.04-0.04
0.93-0.06210.04750.00-0.06-0.07
0.88-0.09220.07880.01-0.09-0.13
0.78-0.12230.12140.01-0.12-0.22
0.64-0.15240.16250.01-0.15-0.36
0.47-0.16250.17660.01-0.16-0.53
0.38-0.1525.50.16940.01-0.15-0.62
0.31-0.14260.15460.01-0.14-0.69
0.24-0.1226.50.13550.01-0.12-0.76
0.19-0.10270.11520.01-0.10-0.81
0.15-0.0927.50.09570.01-0.09-0.85
0.11-0.07280.07840.00-0.07-0.89
0.09-0.0628.50.06360.00-0.06-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 33 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot62227.531.535.5421K0
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

spot11222.52833.5414K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 9K call contracts, 11K 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: ZSL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk