Max pain · Fri, Jan 15Not shownone strike decides it
Put/Call OI0.98⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 3:47 AM ET
How52 put contracts / 53 call contracts = 0.98 for the 2027-01-15 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 4, 3:47 AM ET
HowOver every strike with open interest for the 2027-01-15 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.
Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 5.9% of spot, more than the 5% we allow, so one strike decides it. Walls and gamma still print.
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.
Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 5.9% of spot, more than the 5% we allow, so one strike decides it. Walls and gamma still print.
Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SCHE 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
Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.0% · 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
0.88
-0.01
27
0.0279
0.03
-0.01
-0.13
0.71
-0.01
32
0.0777
0.05
-0.01
-0.31
0.53
-0.01
34
0.1008
0.06
-0.01
-0.48
0.44
-0.01
35
0.0967
0.06
-0.01
-0.58
0.36
-0.01
36
0.0851
0.06
-0.01
-0.65
0.30
-0.01
37
0.0729
0.05
-0.01
-0.71
0.23
-0.01
39
0.0540
0.05
-0.01
-0.78
0.21
-0.01
40
0.0473
0.04
-0.01
-0.80
0.19
-0.01
41
0.0419
0.04
-0.01
-0.82
0.15
-0.01
44
0.0307
0.04
-0.01
-0.86
Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. 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.