Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 5:46 AM ET

ZTO max pain

Spot (delayed)$22.9
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$23+0.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.93±4.0% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.6479 puts / 123 calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3034.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $22

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$23+0.4%6d
Fri, Sep 18$25+9.2%34d
Fri, Oct 16$22-3.9%62d
Fri, Dec 18$25+9.2%125d
Fri, Jan 15$25+9.2%153d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot23172023252831$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 — 23 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot2317202326315252
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZTO open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 21.

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 21

spot2317202326311717
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot192123242628140%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 221720232631+$1K$1K
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 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.01170.00990.00-0.01-0.01
0.98-0.01180.01630.00-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.01190.02850.00-0.01-0.03
0.95-0.01200.05390.00-0.01-0.05
0.90-0.02210.11200.01-0.02-0.10
0.77-0.03220.24370.01-0.03-0.23
0.47-0.03230.34430.01-0.03-0.54
0.22-0.03240.21690.01-0.03-0.79
0.11-0.02250.11720.01-0.02-0.89
0.07-0.02260.06710.00-0.02-0.94
0.03-0.01280.02680.00-0.01-0.98
0.01-0.01300.01280.00-0.01-0.99
0.01-0.01310.00930.00-0.00-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1520232629322K0
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

spot3151923273112K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 16K call contracts, 28K 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: ZTO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk