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 — 460 — is the max pain price.
Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MSFT open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.
Open-interest change · 2026-10-28 → 2026-10-29
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; 2 strikes were in only one day’s snapshot (each keeps its largest strikes) and are left out. Biggest moves: 515 +2K · 570 +1K · 600 +905 · 525 +886
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 ≈ 25.7% · 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
0.78
-0.13
495
0.0055
0.58
-0.15
-0.22
0.75
-0.14
500
0.0060
0.62
-0.16
-0.25
0.72
-0.15
505
0.0064
0.66
-0.17
-0.28
0.69
-0.16
510
0.0068
0.69
-0.18
-0.32
0.65
-0.17
515
0.0072
0.72
-0.19
-0.35
0.62
-0.18
520
0.0075
0.75
-0.19
-0.39
0.58
-0.18
525
0.0077
0.77
-0.19
-0.43
0.54
-0.19
530
0.0078
0.78
-0.19
-0.47
0.50
-0.19
535
0.0079
0.78
-0.19
-0.51
0.46
-0.19
540
0.0079
0.78
-0.19
-0.55
0.42
-0.19
545
0.0078
0.77
-0.18
-0.59
0.39
-0.18
550
0.0077
0.75
-0.18
-0.63
0.31
-0.17
560
0.0072
0.70
-0.16
-0.70
0.25
-0.15
570
0.0065
0.62
-0.13
-0.77
0.22
-0.14
575
0.0060
0.58
-0.12
-0.80
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.