Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 10, 1:12 AM ET

ZWS max pain

Spot (delayed)$45.18
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 1:12 AM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, May 21Not showntoo thin to read
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.5
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 1:12 AM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2027-05-21 expiration = 8.50 USD, 18.8% of 45.18 spot.
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±18.8% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI1.89
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 1:12 AM ET
How34 put contracts / 18 call contracts = 1.89 for the 2027-05-21 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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34 puts / 18 calls
IV3031.7%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 1:12 AM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol

Too thin to read: 52 open contracts across 9 strikes. Max pain, walls and gamma print from 100 contracts across 5 strikes.

Event risk before this expiration: 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$45-0.4%10d
Fri, Dec 18one strike decides38d
Fri, Feb 19one strike decides101d
Fri, May 21too thin192d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Too thin to read: 52 open contracts across 9 strikes. Max pain, walls and gamma print from 100 contracts across 5 strikes.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot2537.542.550601414
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZWS open contracts per strike for Fri, May 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, May 21

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot25323946536062%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Greeks by strike · Fri, May 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.00250.00700.02-0.00-0.04
0.88-0.0132.50.01420.06-0.01-0.11
0.79-0.0137.50.02330.09-0.01-0.21
0.72-0.01400.02840.11-0.01-0.27
0.64-0.0142.50.03290.12-0.01-0.35
0.55-0.01450.03570.13-0.01-0.44
0.38-0.01500.03500.12-0.01-0.61
0.31-0.0152.50.03210.11-0.01-0.69
0.16-0.01600.02120.08-0.01-0.84

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

spot3542.547.552.557.5651K0
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

spot22.532.542.552.5651K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 721 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.

Max pain, walls and gamma print only when an expiration holds at least 100 open contracts across 5 strikes, and max pain also needs to stay within 5% of spot when its single heaviest strike is removed. Below that the expiration reads as thin rather than printing a level one trade could move.

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.

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