HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2026-12-31 expiration, over 174 strikes carrying 34,964 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
How26,865 put contracts / 8,099 call contracts = 3.32 for the 2026-12-31 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 2026-12-31 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 — 511 — is the max pain price.
Open interest by strike · Thu, Dec 31
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DIA open contracts per strike for Thu, Dec 31. Showing the 60 largest of 174 strikes by open interest, 78.2% 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 · Thu, Dec 31
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).
Implied volatility by strike · Thu, Dec 31
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 14.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.
Gamma exposure by strike · Thu, Dec 31
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 · Thu, Dec 31
Call Δ
Call Θ
Strike
Γ
Vega
Put Θ
Put Δ
0.89
-0.07
481
0.0051
0.38
-0.07
-0.12
0.84
-0.08
490
0.0067
0.47
-0.08
-0.16
0.81
-0.09
495
0.0078
0.53
-0.09
-0.19
0.78
-0.09
500
0.0090
0.58
-0.10
-0.23
0.75
-0.10
504
0.0101
0.63
-0.10
-0.26
0.74
-0.10
505
0.0103
0.64
-0.10
-0.27
0.63
-0.11
515
0.0128
0.74
-0.11
-0.38
0.52
-0.11
523
0.0143
0.78
-0.11
-0.49
0.49
-0.11
525
0.0145
0.78
-0.11
-0.52
0.29
-0.08
539
0.0135
0.67
-0.09
-0.73
0.27
-0.08
540
0.0132
0.66
-0.08
-0.74
0.26
-0.08
541
0.0130
0.64
-0.08
-0.76
0.16
-0.06
550
0.0098
0.48
-0.06
-0.87
0.08
-0.04
560
0.0062
0.32
-0.04
-0.95
0.01
-0.01
600
0.0008
0.06
-0.07
-1.00
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.