Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 3:10 AM ET

JHX max pain

Spot (delayed)$31.04
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$22.5-27.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.82±22.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.38981 puts / 3K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$22.5largest put OI
IV3037.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$65Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$25-19.5%4d
Fri, Sep 18$22.5-27.5%32d
Fri, Dec 18$20-35.6%123d
Fri, Jan 15$22.5-27.5%151d
Fri, Mar 19$20-35.6%214d
Thu, Jun 17$22.5-27.5%304d
Fri, Jan 21$15-51.7%522d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot22.551218253138$3M$0
■ 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 — 22.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot22.5512.52027.535758758
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)JHX open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot22.5512.52027.53511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot81420263238162%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 42.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 7.5512.52027.535+$28K$28K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.0012.50.00340.01-0.00-0.03
0.96-0.00150.00540.02-0.00-0.04
0.94-0.0017.50.00850.02-0.01-0.06
0.91-0.01200.01290.03-0.01-0.09
0.87-0.0122.50.01900.04-0.01-0.13
0.81-0.01250.02620.06-0.01-0.20
0.72-0.0127.50.03340.07-0.01-0.28
0.63-0.01300.03880.08-0.01-0.38
0.53-0.0132.50.04120.08-0.01-0.48
0.43-0.01350.04060.08-0.01-0.58
0.35-0.0137.50.03780.07-0.01-0.67

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot7.515202530353K0
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.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot2.51017.52532.5403K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 11K call contracts, 4K put contracts open.

Reading this honestly

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.

Keep going: JHX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk