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 — 39 — is the max pain price.
Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)QQQJ 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 ≈ 19.2% · 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
0.92
-0.01
37
0.0258
0.03
-0.01
-0.07
0.90
-0.01
38
0.0329
0.03
-0.01
-0.10
0.87
-0.01
39
0.0422
0.04
-0.01
-0.12
0.84
-0.01
40
0.0544
0.04
-0.01
-0.16
0.79
-0.01
41
0.0698
0.05
-0.01
-0.21
0.72
-0.01
42
0.0883
0.06
-0.01
-0.28
0.63
-0.01
43
0.1080
0.07
-0.01
-0.37
0.52
-0.01
44
0.1228
0.07
-0.01
-0.48
0.39
-0.01
45
0.1241
0.07
-0.01
-0.61
0.27
-0.01
46
0.1092
0.06
-0.01
-0.73
0.19
-0.01
47
0.0862
0.05
-0.01
-0.82
0.13
-0.01
48
0.0643
0.04
-0.01
-0.88
0.06
-0.00
50
0.0348
0.02
-0.00
-0.95
0.02
-0.00
55
0.0094
0.01
-0.00
-0.99
Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 19 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.