Event risk before this expiration: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 — 140 — is the max pain price.
Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 20
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IQV open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 20.
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, Aug 20
Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 20
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.
Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 20
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, Aug 20
Call Δ
Call Θ
Strike
Γ
Vega
Put Θ
Put Δ
0.98
—
135
0.0005
0.13
-0.01
-0.02
0.97
—
140
0.0006
0.15
-0.01
-0.03
0.86
-0.02
195
0.0023
0.51
-0.04
-0.14
0.74
-0.04
230
0.0035
0.75
-0.05
-0.27
0.53
-0.06
280
0.0045
0.93
-0.06
-0.49
0.41
-0.06
310
0.0044
0.91
-0.06
-0.63
0.37
-0.05
320
0.0044
0.89
-0.06
-0.68
0.34
-0.05
330
0.0042
0.86
-0.05
-0.72
0.31
-0.05
340
0.0040
0.82
-0.05
-0.76
0.28
-0.05
350
0.0039
0.78
-0.05
-0.80
0.20
-0.04
380
0.0032
0.65
-0.04
-0.90
0.18
-0.04
390
0.0030
0.61
-0.03
-0.93
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.
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.