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 — 655 — is the max pain price.
Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)META open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.
Open-interest change · 2026-10-23 → 2026-10-26
Net contracts opened (up, green) or closed (down, red) per strike since the previous snapshot: where the walls are building and where they’re unwinding. Only strikes observed on both days are compared; 6 strikes were in only one day’s snapshot (each keeps its largest strikes) and are left out. Biggest moves: 540 +320 · 580 +264 · 600 +224 · 700 +224
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 ≈ 38.2% · 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
-0.26
575
0.0032
0.74
-0.27
-0.23
0.75
-0.27
580
0.0034
0.77
-0.28
-0.25
0.71
-0.29
590
0.0036
0.82
-0.30
-0.29
0.68
-0.31
600
0.0039
0.87
-0.32
-0.33
0.63
-0.32
610
0.0040
0.91
-0.33
-0.37
0.59
-0.33
620
0.0042
0.93
-0.34
-0.41
0.57
-0.34
625
0.0042
0.94
-0.34
-0.43
0.55
-0.34
630
0.0043
0.95
-0.34
-0.46
0.51
-0.34
640
0.0043
0.96
-0.35
-0.50
0.46
-0.34
650
0.0043
0.95
-0.34
-0.54
0.42
-0.33
660
0.0043
0.94
-0.34
-0.58
0.38
-0.32
670
0.0042
0.92
-0.33
-0.63
0.34
-0.31
680
0.0040
0.89
-0.32
-0.67
0.27
-0.28
700
0.0036
0.80
-0.29
-0.74
0.26
-0.28
705
0.0035
0.78
-0.28
-0.76
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 history — nearest expiry vs price
— max pain (nearest expiry)- - delayed closeOne point per snapshot day since 2026-07-28; unobserved days are gaps, not guesses.
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.