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 — 230 — is the max pain price.
Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WELL 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 ≈ 25.6% · 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
0.89
-0.02
185
0.0033
0.34
-0.03
-0.12
0.87
-0.03
190
0.0038
0.38
-0.03
-0.13
0.85
-0.03
195
0.0043
0.41
-0.03
-0.15
0.83
-0.03
200
0.0048
0.45
-0.03
-0.17
0.78
-0.03
210
0.0059
0.53
-0.04
-0.23
0.71
-0.04
220
0.0071
0.61
-0.04
-0.30
0.64
-0.04
230
0.0080
0.67
-0.04
-0.38
0.55
-0.04
240
0.0087
0.70
-0.04
-0.46
0.47
-0.04
250
0.0089
0.71
-0.04
-0.56
0.38
-0.04
260
0.0086
0.68
-0.04
-0.65
0.31
-0.04
270
0.0080
0.63
-0.04
-0.73
0.25
-0.03
280
0.0071
0.56
-0.04
-0.81
0.19
-0.03
290
0.0061
0.50
-0.03
-0.87
0.15
-0.03
300
0.0052
0.43
-0.03
-0.92
0.12
-0.02
310
0.0043
0.36
-0.02
-0.95
Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 25 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.