HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2026-12-18 expiration, over 270 strikes carrying 554,544 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, 7:39 PM ET
How293,579 put contracts / 260,965 call contracts = 1.12 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, 7:39 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 — 770 — is the max pain price.
Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MU open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18. Showing the 60 largest of 270 strikes by open interest, 60.4% 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). Showing the 60 largest of 171 strikes by volume, 91.3% of the total.
Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 75.0% · 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
0.84
-0.56
540
0.0012
0.56
-0.57
-0.16
0.83
-0.59
550
0.0013
0.59
-0.59
-0.17
0.78
-0.67
580
0.0015
0.69
-0.67
-0.22
0.77
-0.69
590
0.0016
0.72
-0.69
-0.24
0.75
-0.71
600
0.0017
0.75
-0.72
-0.25
0.65
-0.80
650
0.0020
0.87
-0.81
-0.35
0.63
-0.81
660
0.0021
0.89
-0.82
-0.38
0.54
-0.83
700
0.0023
0.93
-0.83
-0.47
0.45
-0.80
740
0.0023
0.93
-0.81
-0.56
0.42
-0.79
750
0.0023
0.92
-0.80
-0.58
0.32
-0.70
800
0.0022
0.83
-0.71
-0.69
0.28
-0.66
820
0.0020
0.79
-0.67
-0.73
0.24
-0.61
840
0.0019
0.74
-0.62
-0.76
0.23
-0.58
850
0.0019
0.71
-0.60
-0.78
0.19
-0.51
880
0.0016
0.63
-0.53
-0.82
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.