Event risk before this expiration:CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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 — 120 — is the max pain price.
Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MRK open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.
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 ≈ 32.0% · 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
0.97
-0.01
110
0.0029
0.04
-0.01
-0.03
0.95
-0.01
115
0.0045
0.06
-0.02
-0.06
0.92
-0.02
120
0.0067
0.09
-0.03
-0.09
0.88
-0.03
125
0.0096
0.12
-0.03
-0.13
0.82
-0.04
130
0.0127
0.16
-0.04
-0.19
0.74
-0.05
135
0.0159
0.20
-0.05
-0.27
0.66
-0.05
140
0.0185
0.23
-0.06
-0.36
0.56
-0.06
145
0.0200
0.24
-0.06
-0.46
0.46
-0.06
150
0.0202
0.24
-0.06
-0.56
0.36
-0.06
155
0.0191
0.23
-0.05
-0.65
0.28
-0.05
160
0.0171
0.21
-0.05
-0.73
0.21
-0.04
165
0.0146
0.18
-0.04
-0.80
0.15
-0.04
170
0.0120
0.15
-0.03
-0.85
0.11
-0.03
175
0.0095
0.12
-0.03
-0.90
0.08
-0.02
180
0.0074
0.09
-0.03
-0.94
Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 35 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.