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 — 490 — is the max pain price.
Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SITM open contracts per strike for Fri, May 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, May 21
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).
Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 81.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.
Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 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, May 21
Call Δ
Call Θ
Strike
Γ
Vega
Put Θ
Put Δ
0.81
-0.18
330
0.0009
0.94
-0.19
-0.19
0.79
-0.19
350
0.0010
1.02
-0.20
-0.22
0.76
-0.21
370
0.0011
1.09
-0.21
-0.24
0.72
-0.22
400
0.0012
1.18
-0.23
-0.28
0.69
-0.23
420
0.0012
1.23
-0.24
-0.31
0.67
-0.24
440
0.0013
1.27
-0.25
-0.34
0.66
-0.25
450
0.0013
1.29
-0.26
-0.35
0.64
-0.25
460
0.0013
1.31
-0.26
-0.37
0.63
-0.25
470
0.0013
1.32
-0.26
-0.38
0.62
-0.26
480
0.0014
1.34
-0.27
-0.39
0.60
-0.26
490
0.0014
1.35
-0.27
-0.41
0.59
-0.26
500
0.0014
1.36
-0.27
-0.42
0.55
-0.27
530
0.0014
1.38
-0.28
-0.46
0.53
-0.27
550
0.0014
1.39
-0.28
-0.48
0.49
-0.27
580
0.0014
1.40
-0.28
-0.52
Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 36 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.