HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2026-12-18 expiration, over 102 strikes carrying 15,624 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
How7,653 put contracts / 7,971 call contracts = 0.96 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 8, 7:31 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: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 — 550 — is the max pain price.
Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LMT open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18. Showing the 60 largest of 102 strikes by open interest, 90.3% 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).
Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 29.3% · 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
0.77
-0.23
530
0.0055
0.57
-0.23
-0.25
0.74
-0.24
535
0.0058
0.62
-0.24
-0.28
0.71
-0.25
540
0.0062
0.65
-0.25
-0.31
0.65
-0.27
550
0.0068
0.70
-0.26
-0.37
0.61
-0.27
555
0.0070
0.73
-0.27
-0.41
0.57
-0.28
560
0.0071
0.74
-0.27
-0.44
0.54
-0.28
565
0.0072
0.76
-0.28
-0.48
0.50
-0.28
570
0.0072
0.76
-0.28
-0.51
0.47
-0.28
575
0.0072
0.76
-0.27
-0.55
0.43
-0.27
580
0.0071
0.75
-0.27
-0.58
0.36
-0.26
590
0.0068
0.72
-0.26
-0.65
0.33
-0.25
595
0.0065
0.69
-0.25
-0.68
0.30
-0.24
600
0.0063
0.67
-0.23
-0.71
0.27
-0.22
605
0.0060
0.64
-0.22
-0.74
0.25
-0.21
610
0.0056
0.61
-0.21
-0.77
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.