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 — 165 — is the max pain price.
Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BCPC 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 ≈ 22.2% · 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
0.96
-0.01
120
0.0017
0.10
-0.01
-0.03
0.95
-0.01
125
0.0022
0.12
-0.01
-0.04
0.94
-0.01
130
0.0028
0.15
-0.01
-0.06
0.93
-0.01
135
0.0036
0.18
-0.01
-0.07
0.91
-0.01
140
0.0044
0.22
-0.01
-0.09
0.81
-0.02
155
0.0078
0.36
-0.02
-0.19
0.72
-0.02
165
0.0104
0.45
-0.03
-0.28
0.48
-0.03
185
0.0135
0.53
-0.03
-0.55
0.35
-0.03
195
0.0129
0.50
-0.03
-0.69
0.29
-0.02
200
0.0120
0.46
-0.03
-0.76
Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. 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.