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 — 700 — is the max pain price.
Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)QQQ 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. Biggest moves: 800 +29K · 780 +18K · 650 +3K · 725 +2K
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 ≈ 22.7% · 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
0.82
-0.15
650
0.0036
0.70
-0.19
-0.18
0.80
-0.16
655
0.0039
0.73
-0.20
-0.20
0.78
-0.17
660
0.0042
0.77
-0.20
-0.22
0.74
-0.19
670
0.0047
0.84
-0.21
-0.26
0.72
-0.19
675
0.0050
0.88
-0.22
-0.28
0.70
-0.20
680
0.0053
0.92
-0.22
-0.31
0.65
-0.21
690
0.0059
0.97
-0.23
-0.36
0.58
-0.22
700
0.0064
1.02
-0.23
-0.42
0.52
-0.22
710
0.0069
1.04
-0.23
-0.49
0.48
-0.21
715
0.0070
1.04
-0.22
-0.53
0.45
-0.21
720
0.0071
1.03
-0.21
-0.57
0.41
-0.20
725
0.0071
1.02
-0.20
-0.60
0.38
-0.20
730
0.0070
0.99
-0.20
-0.64
0.34
-0.19
735
0.0069
0.96
-0.18
-0.68
0.30
-0.18
740
0.0067
0.92
-0.17
-0.72
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.