HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2026-12-18 expiration, over 179 strikes carrying 129,847 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 10, 7:47 PM ET
How66,631 put contracts / 63,216 call contracts = 1.05 for the 2026-12-18 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 10, 7:47 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.
Event risk before this expiration: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 — 500 — is the max pain price.
Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DIA open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18. Showing the 60 largest of 179 strikes by open interest, 89.1% 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, Dec 18
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed). Showing the 57 largest of 81 strikes by volume, 97.9% of the total.
Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 14.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.
Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18
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 Δ
Call Θ
Strike
Γ
Vega
Put Θ
Put Δ
0.83
-0.10
496
0.0082
0.43
-0.10
-0.17
0.83
-0.10
497
0.0085
0.43
-0.10
-0.18
0.81
-0.10
500
0.0094
0.47
-0.11
-0.21
0.76
-0.11
505
0.0111
0.52
-0.12
-0.25
0.71
-0.12
510
0.0128
0.57
-0.12
-0.31
0.64
-0.13
515
0.0145
0.62
-0.13
-0.37
0.57
-0.13
520
0.0159
0.66
-0.13
-0.45
0.49
-0.13
525
0.0168
0.67
-0.13
-0.53
0.40
-0.12
530
0.0168
0.65
-0.12
-0.61
0.32
-0.11
535
0.0160
0.60
-0.10
-0.70
0.24
-0.09
540
0.0142
0.53
-0.09
-0.78
0.19
-0.08
544
0.0124
0.46
-0.07
-0.83
0.17
-0.07
545
0.0119
0.45
-0.07
-0.84
0.12
-0.06
550
0.0094
0.36
-0.05
-0.90
0.08
-0.04
555
0.0072
0.28
-0.04
-0.94
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.