Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 12, 11:42 PM ET

ZSL max pain

Spot (delayed)$24.43
Max pain · Fri, Sep 4$32+31.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.7±19.2% by Fri, Sep 4
Put/Call OI4.6593 puts / 20 calls
Call wall$22largest call OI
Put wall$32largest put OI
IV3089.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $22

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 14$26.5+8.5%1d
Fri, Aug 21$26+6.4%8d
Fri, Aug 28$27.5+12.6%15d
Fri, Sep 4$32+31.0%22d
Fri, Sep 11$32+31.0%29d
Fri, Sep 18$25+2.3%36d
Fri, Sep 25$22-9.9%43d
Fri, Nov 20$20-18.1%99d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot32202427313438$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 — 32 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot322023262831362222
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZSL open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 4.

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, Sep 4

spot322023262831362020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot202427313438133%78%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 95.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spotflip 22202326283136+$688$688
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, Sep 4

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.81-0.04200.04910.02-0.04-0.20
0.76-0.04210.05800.02-0.04-0.25
0.69-0.04220.06620.02-0.04-0.31
0.62-0.05230.07220.02-0.04-0.38
0.51-0.0524.50.07530.02-0.05-0.49
0.47-0.05250.07460.02-0.05-0.52
0.40-0.05260.07130.02-0.04-0.59
0.34-0.04270.06620.02-0.04-0.65
0.32-0.0427.50.06340.02-0.04-0.67
0.29-0.04280.06040.02-0.04-0.69
0.25-0.04290.05440.02-0.04-0.74
0.21-0.04300.04870.02-0.04-0.77

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 17 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