Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 3:30 AM ET

ZVRA max pain

Spot (delayed)$9.83
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$9-8.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.58±26.2% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.183K puts / 14K calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3065.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$77Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $2

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, Nov 20$10+1.7%25d
Fri, Dec 18$5-49.1%53d
Fri, Jan 15$9-8.4%81d
Fri, Feb 19$11+11.9%116d
Fri, May 21$9-8.4%207d
Fri, Dec 17$12+22.1%417d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot91611172227$20M$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 — 9 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot91591317276K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZVRA open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot9159131727322322
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot2712172227255%39%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 68.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 2159131727+$37K−$37K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.0130.00950.00-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.0140.01560.01-0.01-0.06
0.92-0.0150.02420.01-0.01-0.09
0.88-0.0160.03640.01-0.01-0.12
0.84-0.0170.05360.01-0.01-0.17
0.77-0.0180.07740.01-0.01-0.23
0.68-0.0190.10610.02-0.01-0.33
0.56-0.01100.12740.02-0.01-0.45
0.44-0.01110.12670.02-0.01-0.57
0.35-0.01120.11220.02-0.01-0.67
0.29-0.01130.09640.02-0.01-0.73
0.24-0.01140.08290.01-0.01-0.77
0.21-0.01150.07220.01-0.01-0.80
0.19-0.01160.06370.01-0.01-0.83
0.17-0.01170.05690.01-0.01-0.85

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1591317276K0
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

spot161116212621K21K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 33K call contracts, 42K 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: ZVRA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk