Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 23, 3:37 AM ET

JNJ max pain

Spot (delayed)$268.94
Max pain · Fri, Oct 9$270+0.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.83±4.0% by Fri, Oct 9
Put/Call OI0.862K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$280largest call OI
Put wall$260largest put OI
IV3026.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$765Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $285
Earnings · expectedTue, Oct 13usually after the close

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Sep 25$270+0.4%2d
Fri, Oct 2$270+0.4%9d
Fri, Oct 9$270+0.4%16d
Fri, Oct 16$250-7.0%23d← 1st expiry after earnings (Tue, Oct 13)
Fri, Oct 23$265-1.5%30d
Fri, Oct 30$270+0.4%37d
Fri, Nov 20$260-3.3%58d
Fri, Dec 18$240-10.8%86d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot270210232254276298320$10M$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 — 270 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 9

spot270210245260275287.5310809809
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)JNJ open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 9.

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, Oct 9

spot270210245260275287.53108585
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 9

spot21023225427629832062%20%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 9

spotflip 285210245260275287.5310+$1.3M$1.3M
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, Oct 9

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.92-0.062500.00970.09-0.06-0.08
0.90-0.07252.50.01230.11-0.07-0.10
0.87-0.092550.01520.13-0.09-0.14
0.83-0.10257.50.01840.15-0.11-0.18
0.78-0.122600.02170.17-0.12-0.23
0.66-0.142650.02760.21-0.15-0.35
0.58-0.15267.50.02950.23-0.15-0.42
0.51-0.152700.03030.23-0.16-0.50
0.43-0.15272.50.03000.23-0.16-0.57
0.36-0.152750.02850.22-0.15-0.65
0.30-0.14277.50.02620.20-0.14-0.71
0.24-0.122800.02330.18-0.12-0.78
0.19-0.10282.50.02020.16-0.11-0.83
0.15-0.092850.01700.14-0.09-0.87
0.11-0.07287.50.01400.11-0.08-0.91

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

spot140240262.5277.5292.53202K0
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

spot75140205255287.534520K20K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 176K call contracts, 148K 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