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, Dec 18
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VRTX 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 ≈ 34.0% · 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
0.88
-0.13
440
0.0027
0.41
-0.15
-0.13
0.85
-0.15
450
0.0032
0.46
-0.16
-0.15
0.82
-0.17
460
0.0037
0.52
-0.18
-0.18
0.78
-0.19
470
0.0043
0.58
-0.20
-0.22
0.73
-0.20
480
0.0048
0.65
-0.21
-0.27
0.68
-0.22
490
0.0053
0.70
-0.23
-0.32
0.63
-0.23
500
0.0057
0.74
-0.24
-0.38
0.57
-0.24
510
0.0060
0.77
-0.24
-0.44
0.51
-0.24
520
0.0061
0.78
-0.25
-0.50
0.45
-0.24
530
0.0060
0.78
-0.25
-0.56
0.39
-0.24
540
0.0058
0.75
-0.24
-0.62
0.34
-0.23
550
0.0055
0.72
-0.23
-0.67
0.29
-0.22
560
0.0051
0.68
-0.22
-0.72
0.26
-0.21
570
0.0046
0.63
-0.21
-0.76
0.22
-0.19
580
0.0042
0.58
-0.20
-0.80
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 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.