Event risk before this expiration:FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 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 — 18.5 — is the max pain price.
Open interest by strike · Wed, Nov 18
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VIX open contracts per strike for Wed, Nov 18.
Open-interest change · 2026-10-23 → 2026-10-26
Net contracts opened (up, green) or closed (down, red) per strike since the previous snapshot: where the walls are building and where they’re unwinding. Only strikes observed on both days are compared; 1 strike was in only one day’s snapshot (each keeps its largest strikes) and is left out. Biggest moves: 18.5 +21K · 28 +20K · 22 +17K · 20 −12K
Volume by strike · Wed, Nov 18
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).
Implied volatility by strike · Wed, Nov 18
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 79.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.
Gamma exposure by strike · Wed, Nov 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 · Wed, Nov 18
Call Δ
Call Θ
Strike
Γ
Vega
Put Θ
Put Δ
0.98
-0.00
14
0.0151
0.00
-0.00
-0.02
0.97
-0.00
14.5
0.0239
0.00
-0.00
-0.03
0.94
-0.01
15
0.0374
0.01
-0.01
-0.05
0.91
-0.01
15.5
0.0538
0.01
-0.01
-0.09
0.86
-0.01
16
0.0697
0.01
-0.01
-0.14
0.81
-0.02
16.5
0.0825
0.01
-0.02
-0.19
0.75
-0.03
17
0.0914
0.01
-0.03
-0.25
0.69
-0.03
17.5
0.0955
0.02
-0.03
-0.31
0.63
-0.03
18
0.0960
0.02
-0.03
-0.36
0.58
-0.04
18.5
0.0944
0.02
-0.04
-0.41
0.54
-0.04
19
0.0916
0.02
-0.04
-0.46
0.50
-0.04
19.5
0.0882
0.02
-0.04
-0.50
0.46
-0.04
20
0.0845
0.02
-0.04
-0.54
0.43
-0.04
20.5
0.0806
0.02
-0.04
-0.57
0.40
-0.04
21
0.0766
0.02
-0.04
-0.60
Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 54 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 history — nearest expiry vs price
— max pain (nearest expiry)- - delayed closeOne point per snapshot day since 2026-07-28; unobserved days are gaps, not guesses.
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.