HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2026-12-04 expiration, over 37 strikes carrying 665 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, 7:31 PM ET
How192 put contracts / 473 call contracts = 0.41 for the 2026-12-04 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, 7:31 PM ET
HowOver every strike with open interest for the 2026-12-04 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 — 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 — 600 — is the max pain price.
Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 4
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LMT open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 4.
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 4
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).
Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 4
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 31.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.
Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 4
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 4
Call Δ
Call Θ
Strike
Γ
Vega
Put Θ
Put Δ
0.81
-0.25
530
0.0057
0.44
-0.26
-0.22
0.74
-0.29
540
0.0068
0.51
-0.30
-0.28
0.71
-0.31
545
0.0073
0.53
-0.31
-0.32
0.67
-0.32
550
0.0078
0.56
-0.32
-0.36
0.63
-0.33
555
0.0082
0.58
-0.33
-0.40
0.59
-0.34
560
0.0085
0.60
-0.34
-0.44
0.55
-0.34
565
0.0087
0.62
-0.34
-0.48
0.50
-0.34
570
0.0087
0.62
-0.34
-0.53
0.46
-0.34
575
0.0087
0.61
-0.33
-0.57
0.42
-0.34
580
0.0086
0.60
-0.32
-0.61
0.38
-0.32
585
0.0083
0.59
-0.31
-0.65
0.34
-0.31
590
0.0080
0.56
-0.30
-0.69
0.30
-0.29
595
0.0076
0.54
-0.28
-0.72
0.26
-0.28
600
0.0072
0.51
-0.26
-0.75
0.23
-0.26
605
0.0067
0.48
-0.24
-0.78
Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 37 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.