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

ZBH max pain

Spot (delayed)$94.99
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$80-15.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$16.25±17.1% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.62171 puts / 276 calls
Call wall$95largest call OI
Put wall$80largest put OI
IV3036.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$20Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $75

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

spot80507090110130150$2M$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 — 80 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot805070901101301506565
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZBH open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

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, Mar 19

spot8050709011013015011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot50709011013015073%29%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 75507090110130150+$11K−$11K
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.00600.00320.06-0.01-0.04
0.93-0.01650.00460.08-0.01-0.06
0.91-0.01700.00650.10-0.01-0.09
0.87-0.01750.00890.13-0.02-0.13
0.82-0.02800.01180.16-0.02-0.18
0.75-0.02850.01510.19-0.02-0.25
0.66-0.02900.01810.22-0.02-0.34
0.57-0.02950.02010.24-0.03-0.44
0.47-0.021000.02080.24-0.03-0.55
0.37-0.021050.01980.23-0.02-0.65
0.29-0.021100.01780.21-0.02-0.73
0.23-0.021150.01530.18-0.02-0.81
0.17-0.021200.01290.16-0.02-0.86
0.14-0.011250.01070.14-0.01-0.91
0.11-0.011300.00880.12-0.01-0.95

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

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