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 — 270 — is the max pain price.
Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)QQQM open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.
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 15
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).
Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.
Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15
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 15
Call Δ
Call Θ
Strike
Γ
Vega
Put Θ
Put Δ
0.85
-0.06
255
0.0056
0.33
-0.06
-0.16
0.82
-0.06
260
0.0065
0.37
-0.06
-0.18
0.79
-0.07
265
0.0074
0.40
-0.07
-0.21
0.75
-0.07
270
0.0084
0.44
-0.07
-0.25
0.71
-0.07
275
0.0094
0.48
-0.07
-0.29
0.67
-0.08
280
0.0104
0.51
-0.08
-0.34
0.61
-0.08
285
0.0114
0.53
-0.08
-0.40
0.56
-0.08
290
0.0121
0.55
-0.08
-0.46
0.49
-0.07
295
0.0127
0.55
-0.08
-0.52
0.43
-0.07
300
0.0129
0.55
-0.07
-0.59
0.36
-0.07
305
0.0126
0.52
-0.07
-0.66
0.30
-0.06
310
0.0120
0.49
-0.07
-0.73
0.24
-0.05
315
0.0110
0.44
-0.06
-0.80
0.19
-0.04
320
0.0097
0.38
-0.06
-0.86
0.15
-0.04
325
0.0083
0.33
-0.05
-0.92
Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 58 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.