Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 19, 8:19 PM ET

ZBH max pain

Spot (delayed)$94.99
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$95+0.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$12±12.6% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI1.733K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$100largest call OI
Put wall$90largest put OI
IV3036.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$195Kper 1% move

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$90-5.3%32d
Fri, Dec 18$90-5.3%60d
Fri, Jan 15$95+0.0%88d
Fri, Mar 19$80-15.8%151d
Thu, Jun 17$80-15.8%241d
Fri, Sep 17$50-47.4%333d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot95456993117141165$11M$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 — 95 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot954570951201451K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZBH 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

spot9545709512014511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot456993117141165102%29%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 32.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot457095120145+$207K−$207K
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
0.97-0.00600.00270.03-0.01-0.03
0.95-0.01650.00410.04-0.01-0.05
0.93-0.01700.00610.06-0.02-0.07
0.90-0.02750.00900.08-0.02-0.10
0.85-0.02800.01300.11-0.02-0.15
0.78-0.03850.01810.14-0.03-0.23
0.67-0.03900.02340.17-0.03-0.33
0.55-0.03950.02720.18-0.03-0.46
0.41-0.031000.02730.18-0.03-0.59
0.29-0.031050.02390.16-0.03-0.71
0.21-0.021100.01920.13-0.02-0.81
0.15-0.021150.01490.11-0.02-0.87
0.11-0.021200.01140.09-0.02-0.92
0.08-0.011250.00890.07-0.01-0.95
0.07-0.011300.00700.06-0.01-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 25 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot4570951201452K0
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

spot4570951201453K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K call contracts, 6K 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: ZBH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk