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

JNJ max pain

Spot (delayed)$257.23
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$230-10.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$18.65±7.3% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.6833K puts / 48K calls
Call wall$290largest call OI
Put wall$210largest put OI
IV3024.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$18.7Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $260

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — 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

spot23080136192248304360$488M$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 — 230 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot2308011515018524031010K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)JNJ open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 18.

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 18

spot230801151501852403108K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot12517221926631336095%22%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 24.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 260120150180220280340+$6.2M$6.2M
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 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.011950.00090.02-0.01-0.02
0.99-0.012000.00120.03-0.01-0.02
0.98-0.022100.00220.05-0.02-0.03
0.95-0.032200.00440.10-0.03-0.06
0.89-0.052300.00810.17-0.05-0.12
0.79-0.072400.01290.27-0.07-0.23
0.64-0.092500.01690.35-0.09-0.38
0.46-0.092600.01790.37-0.09-0.55
0.30-0.082700.01550.33-0.08-0.72
0.17-0.062800.01140.24-0.06-0.84
0.10-0.042900.00730.16-0.04-0.92
0.05-0.033000.00450.10-0.02-0.96
0.03-0.023100.00290.07-0.02-0.98
0.02-0.013200.00200.06-0.01-0.98
0.02-0.013300.00150.05-0.01-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 41 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