HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2027-03-19 expiration, over 79 strikes carrying 39,834 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:42 PM ET
How29,989 put contracts / 9,845 call contracts = 3.05 for the 2027-03-19 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:42 PM ET
HowOver every strike with open interest for the 2027-03-19 expiration: (call gamma × call OI minus put gamma × put OI) × 100 × spot² × 1%, summed. Calls count as positive and puts as negative, a convention about who holds the other side, not a measurement.
Event risk before this expiration: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 — 190 — is the max pain price.
Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)XOP open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19. Showing the 36 largest of 79 strikes by open interest, 97.2% of the total.
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, Mar 19
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).
Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 32.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.
Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19
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, Mar 19
Call Δ
Call Θ
Strike
Γ
Vega
Put Θ
Put Δ
0.70
-0.04
162
0.0101
0.36
-0.04
-0.30
0.68
-0.04
164
0.0104
0.37
-0.05
-0.32
0.67
-0.04
165
0.0106
0.37
-0.05
-0.33
0.66
-0.04
166
0.0107
0.38
-0.05
-0.34
0.65
-0.05
167
0.0109
0.38
-0.05
-0.35
0.62
-0.05
169
0.0111
0.39
-0.05
-0.38
0.59
-0.05
172
0.0114
0.40
-0.05
-0.41
0.55
-0.05
175
0.0116
0.41
-0.05
-0.45
0.53
-0.05
177
0.0117
0.41
-0.05
-0.47
0.52
-0.05
178
0.0118
0.41
-0.05
-0.48
0.51
-0.05
179
0.0118
0.41
-0.05
-0.50
0.50
-0.05
180
0.0118
0.41
-0.05
-0.51
0.44
-0.05
185
0.0117
0.41
-0.05
-0.57
0.39
-0.05
190
0.0113
0.40
-0.05
-0.62
0.34
-0.05
195
0.0108
0.38
-0.05
-0.68
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.
Max pain, walls and gamma print only when an expiration holds at least 100 open contracts across 5 strikes, and max pain also needs to stay within 5% of spot when its single heaviest strike is removed. Below that the expiration reads as thin rather than printing a level one trade could move.
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.