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 — 230 — is the max pain price.
Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FIVE 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 ≈ 43.8% · 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
-0.04
160
0.0025
0.34
-0.04
-0.12
0.86
-0.04
165
0.0028
0.37
-0.04
-0.14
0.84
-0.04
170
0.0030
0.40
-0.04
-0.16
0.80
-0.05
180
0.0035
0.47
-0.05
-0.20
0.76
-0.05
190
0.0040
0.52
-0.06
-0.24
0.71
-0.06
200
0.0045
0.57
-0.06
-0.29
0.66
-0.06
210
0.0048
0.62
-0.07
-0.34
0.61
-0.07
220
0.0051
0.65
-0.07
-0.40
0.56
-0.07
230
0.0053
0.67
-0.07
-0.45
0.51
-0.07
240
0.0054
0.67
-0.07
-0.51
0.46
-0.07
250
0.0054
0.67
-0.07
-0.56
0.41
-0.07
260
0.0053
0.66
-0.07
-0.61
0.36
-0.06
270
0.0052
0.64
-0.07
-0.66
0.32
-0.06
280
0.0049
0.61
-0.07
-0.71
0.22
-0.05
310
0.0041
0.50
-0.06
-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 20 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.