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

ZTS max pain

Spot (delayed)$79.45
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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.
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Max pain · Fri, Mar 19Not shownone strike decides it
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.75
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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 2027-03-19 expiration = 14.75 USD, 18.6% of 79.45 spot.
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±18.6% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.66
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 7, 10:40 PM ET
How10,397 put contracts / 6,250 call contracts = 1.66 for the 2027-03-19 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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10K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$90
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 7, 10:40 PM ET
How90.00 for the 2027-03-19 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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largest call OI
Put wall$45
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 7, 10:40 PM ET
How45.00 for the 2027-03-19 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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largest put OI
IV3035.4%
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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.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$204K
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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 2027-03-19 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.
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per 1% move · flip ≈ $90

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, Mar 19

spot4065901151403K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZTS 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

spot50657585951105959
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot40669211814417075%36%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 90406590115140+$227K−$227K
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
0.99-0.00450.00160.02-0.00-0.02
0.97-0.01500.00320.03-0.01-0.03
0.95-0.01550.00560.06-0.01-0.06
0.91-0.01600.00880.08-0.01-0.10
0.84-0.02650.01260.12-0.02-0.16
0.76-0.02700.01660.15-0.02-0.25
0.67-0.03750.01980.17-0.03-0.35
0.56-0.03800.02160.19-0.03-0.46
0.46-0.03850.02180.19-0.03-0.56
0.36-0.03900.02050.18-0.03-0.66
0.28-0.02950.01830.16-0.02-0.75
0.21-0.021000.01570.14-0.02-0.82
0.16-0.021050.01300.12-0.02-0.88
0.12-0.011100.01060.10-0.02-0.92
0.09-0.011150.00860.08-0.02-0.96

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

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