HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2027-01-15 expiration, over 97 strikes carrying 57,949 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 8, 8:26 PM ET
How28,750 put contracts / 29,199 call contracts = 0.98 for the 2027-01-15 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 8, 8:26 PM ET
HowOver every strike with open interest for the 2027-01-15 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.
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.
■ 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 — 950 — is the max pain price.
Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)COST open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15. Showing the 60 largest of 97 strikes by open interest, 88.4% of the total.
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, Jan 15
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed). Showing the 38 largest of 67 strikes by volume, 97.6% of the total.
Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.
Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15
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, Jan 15
Call Δ
Call Θ
Strike
Γ
Vega
Put Θ
Put Δ
0.78
-0.24
985
0.0026
1.40
-0.25
-0.23
0.76
-0.25
990
0.0027
1.44
-0.26
-0.24
0.73
-0.27
1000
0.0029
1.53
-0.27
-0.27
0.72
-0.27
1005
0.0030
1.57
-0.28
-0.29
0.69
-0.28
1015
0.0032
1.64
-0.29
-0.32
0.67
-0.29
1020
0.0032
1.67
-0.30
-0.34
0.60
-0.30
1040
0.0035
1.78
-0.32
-0.41
0.53
-0.31
1060
0.0036
1.84
-0.33
-0.48
0.50
-0.31
1070
0.0037
1.84
-0.33
-0.52
0.48
-0.31
1075
0.0037
1.84
-0.33
-0.54
0.46
-0.31
1080
0.0036
1.83
-0.33
-0.56
0.39
-0.29
1100
0.0036
1.77
-0.32
-0.63
0.32
-0.27
1120
0.0033
1.66
-0.30
-0.70
0.26
-0.25
1140
0.0030
1.52
-0.28
-0.77
0.21
-0.22
1160
0.0027
1.35
-0.25
-0.83
Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 60 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.
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.