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 — 240 — is the max pain price.
Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)STLD 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 ≈ 37.4% · 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
0.95
-0.04
185
0.0024
0.10
-0.04
-0.05
0.94
-0.04
190
0.0030
0.12
-0.04
-0.06
0.92
-0.05
195
0.0036
0.14
-0.05
-0.08
0.90
-0.06
200
0.0044
0.17
-0.06
-0.10
0.85
-0.08
210
0.0062
0.23
-0.08
-0.16
0.77
-0.10
220
0.0082
0.29
-0.10
-0.23
0.68
-0.12
230
0.0100
0.34
-0.12
-0.33
0.57
-0.12
240
0.0111
0.37
-0.13
-0.44
0.46
-0.12
250
0.0114
0.38
-0.13
-0.55
0.35
-0.12
260
0.0107
0.35
-0.12
-0.66
0.26
-0.10
270
0.0094
0.31
-0.11
-0.76
0.19
-0.08
280
0.0077
0.26
-0.09
-0.84
0.13
-0.07
290
0.0060
0.20
-0.08
-0.90
0.09
-0.05
300
0.0046
0.16
-0.06
-0.95
0.06
-0.04
310
0.0034
0.12
-0.04
-0.98
Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 45 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.