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Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Jul 31, 9:10 PM ET

JNJ max pain

Spot (delayed)$257.23
Max pain · Fri, Aug 14$257.5+0.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.43±3.7% by Fri, Aug 14
Put/Call OI0.863K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$260largest call OI
Put wall$210largest put OI
IV3024.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2.4Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $200

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 7$255-0.9%6d
Fri, Aug 14$257.5+0.1%13d
Fri, Aug 21$257.5+0.1%20d
Fri, Aug 28$255-0.9%27d
Fri, Sep 4$260+1.1%34d
Fri, Sep 11$255-0.9%41d
Fri, Sep 18$230-10.6%48d
Fri, Oct 16$210-18.4%76d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot257.5135172209246283320$26M$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 — 257.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 14

spot257.5135215245262.5280310761761
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)JNJ open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 14.

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, Aug 14

spot257.5135215245262.52803108989
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 14

spot18521223926629332083%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 14

spotflip 200160215242.5257.5272.5287.5+$1.5M$1.5M
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, Aug 14

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.91-0.082400.01240.09-0.08-0.09
0.88-0.09242.50.01560.10-0.09-0.12
0.84-0.112450.01940.13-0.11-0.16
0.79-0.13247.50.02340.15-0.13-0.22
0.72-0.152500.02720.17-0.15-0.28
0.65-0.16252.50.03020.19-0.17-0.35
0.57-0.172550.03210.20-0.17-0.43
0.49-0.17257.50.03270.20-0.18-0.52
0.41-0.172600.03190.20-0.17-0.60
0.33-0.16262.50.02980.18-0.16-0.68
0.27-0.142650.02680.17-0.15-0.74
0.21-0.13267.50.02320.14-0.13-0.81
0.16-0.112700.01940.12-0.11-0.85
0.12-0.09272.50.01590.10-0.09-0.89
0.09-0.082750.01290.09-0.08-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 37 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot125180225250272.530013K0
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

spot75140205250282.533032K32K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 206K call contracts, 160K 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: JNJ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk