Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 7, 10:40 PM ET

ZTS max pain

Spot (delayed)$79.45
⊙
EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 7, 10:40 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
Open the source document →
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18Not shownone strike decides it
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.75
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 7, 10:40 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-12-18 expiration = 7.75 USD, 9.8% of 79.45 spot.
Open the source document →
±9.8% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.37
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 7, 10:40 PM ET
How10,480 put contracts / 7,643 call contracts = 1.37 for the 2026-12-18 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
Open the source document →
10K puts / 8K calls
Call wall$75
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 7, 10:40 PM ET
How75.00 for the 2026-12-18 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
Open the source document →
largest call OI
Put wall$60
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 7, 10:40 PM ET
How60.00 for the 2026-12-18 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
Open the source document →
largest put OI
IV3035.4%
⊙
EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 7, 10:40 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
Open the source document →
30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$87K
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 7, 10:40 PM ET
HowOver every strike with open interest for the 2026-12-18 expiration: (call gamma × call OI minus put gamma × put OI) × 100 × spot² × 1%, summed. Calls count as positive and puts as negative, a convention about who holds the other side, not a measurement.
Open the source document →
per 1% move · flip ≈ $95

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 6.3% of spot, more than the 5% we allow, so one strike decides it. Walls and gamma still print.

Event risk before this expiration: 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 20one strike decides12d
Fri, Dec 18one strike decides40d
Fri, Jan 15$80+0.7%68d
Fri, Mar 19one strike decides131d
Fri, Apr 16$80+0.7%159d
Thu, Jun 17one strike decides221d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 6.3% of spot, more than the 5% we allow, so one strike decides it. Walls and gamma still print.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot4065901151401652K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZTS open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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, Dec 18

spot55708090100110324324
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot4576107138169200139%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 35.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 95406590115140165+$272K−$272K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.00-0.00450.00030.00-0.00-0.00
1.00-0.00500.00090.00-0.00-0.00
0.99-0.00550.00220.01-0.00-0.01
0.97-0.01600.00510.02-0.01-0.03
0.94-0.02650.01110.03-0.02-0.06
0.86-0.03700.02150.06-0.03-0.14
0.72-0.04750.03460.09-0.04-0.28
0.52-0.04800.04230.11-0.05-0.49
0.32-0.04850.03830.10-0.04-0.69
0.18-0.03900.02730.07-0.03-0.84
0.10-0.02950.01700.05-0.02-0.94
0.05-0.011000.01010.03-0.01-0.98
0.03-0.011050.00600.02-0.00-1.00
0.02-0.011100.00360.010.00-1.00
0.01-0.001150.00220.01not quoted-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 30 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot40751101451802306K0
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

spot407511014518023041K41K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 105K call contracts, 61K 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.

Keep going: ZTS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk