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.
■ 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 — 620 — is the max pain price.
Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ARGX 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
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).
Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.
Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21
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, May 21
Call Δ
Call Θ
Strike
Γ
Vega
Put Θ
Put Δ
0.88
-0.11
640
0.0007
1.32
-0.14
-0.12
0.86
-0.12
660
0.0008
1.45
-0.15
-0.14
0.84
-0.14
680
0.0009
1.58
-0.16
-0.16
0.82
-0.15
700
0.0009
1.71
-0.17
-0.18
0.80
-0.16
720
0.0010
1.84
-0.19
-0.20
0.64
-0.22
840
0.0014
2.45
-0.24
-0.37
0.63
-0.22
850
0.0015
2.48
-0.24
-0.39
0.61
-0.23
860
0.0015
2.51
-0.24
-0.40
0.58
-0.23
880
0.0015
2.56
-0.25
-0.44
0.57
-0.23
890
0.0015
2.58
-0.25
-0.45
0.55
-0.23
900
0.0015
2.59
-0.25
-0.47
0.51
-0.24
930
0.0016
2.62
-0.25
-0.52
0.48
-0.24
950
0.0016
2.61
-0.25
-0.55
0.46
-0.24
960
0.0016
2.60
-0.25
-0.56
0.42
-0.23
990
0.0015
2.56
-0.25
-0.61
Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.
Stacked — layer the expirations
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.
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.