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 — 55 — is the max pain price.
Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)QQQI open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 21.
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, Jan 21
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).
Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 15.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.
Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21
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, Jan 21
Call Δ
Call Θ
Strike
Γ
Vega
Put Θ
Put Δ
0.94
-0.01
45
0.0535
0.05
-0.00
-0.33
0.91
-0.01
46
0.0686
0.06
-0.00
-0.36
0.86
-0.01
47
0.0877
0.08
-0.00
-0.40
0.79
-0.01
48
0.0989
0.13
-0.00
-0.43
0.63
-0.01
50
0.0908
0.16
-0.00
-0.51
0.54
-0.01
51
0.0855
0.17
-0.00
-0.55
0.46
-0.01
52
0.0767
0.18
-0.00
-0.58
0.39
-0.01
53
0.0679
0.18
-0.00
-0.61
0.32
-0.01
54
0.0587
0.17
-0.00
-0.64
0.27
-0.01
55
0.0506
0.17
-0.00
-0.67
0.23
-0.00
56
0.0432
0.16
-0.00
-0.69
0.20
-0.00
57
0.0370
0.14
-0.00
-0.70
0.17
-0.00
58
0.0320
0.13
0.00
-0.72
0.13
-0.00
60
0.0243
0.12
—
-0.74
0.10
-0.00
62
0.0190
0.10
—
-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 18 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.