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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, Sep 4$260+1.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.3±5.9% by Fri, Sep 4
Put/Call OI3.241K puts / 448 calls
Call wall$285largest call OI
Put wall$250largest put OI
IV3024.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$1.1Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $195

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 — 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

spot260135176217258299340$15M$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 — 260 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot260135205230255280305392392
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)JNJ open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 4.

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, Sep 4

spot260135205230255280305267267
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot16519722926129332585%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spotflip 195135205230255280305+$500K$500K
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, Sep 4

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.032200.00350.06-0.03-0.05
0.95-0.042250.00500.08-0.04-0.07
0.93-0.042300.00710.11-0.05-0.09
0.89-0.062350.01000.15-0.06-0.13
0.83-0.082400.01350.20-0.08-0.19
0.76-0.092450.01710.24-0.09-0.27
0.66-0.112500.02010.29-0.10-0.36
0.56-0.112550.02170.31-0.11-0.47
0.45-0.112600.02170.31-0.11-0.57
0.34-0.102650.02000.29-0.10-0.67
0.26-0.092700.01730.26-0.09-0.76
0.19-0.072750.01410.21-0.07-0.82
0.13-0.062800.01110.17-0.06-0.88
0.10-0.052850.00850.14-0.05-0.91
0.07-0.042900.00660.11-0.04-0.93

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 28 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