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

JNJ max pain

Spot (delayed)$268.94
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$240-10.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$26.05±9.7% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.0527K puts / 26K calls
Call wall$310largest call OI
Put wall$250largest put OI
IV3026.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4.6Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $280
Earnings · expectedTue, Oct 13usually after the close

Event risk before this expiration: 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, 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

spot24075134193252311370$356M$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 — 240 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot240751151551952703506K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)JNJ open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 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, Dec 18

spot24075115155195270350345345
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot9515020526031537098%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 24.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 280130160190240300360+$2.8M$2.8M
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.982000.00110.06-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.012100.00180.09-0.02-0.04
0.95-0.012200.00300.14-0.02-0.06
0.91-0.032300.00480.22-0.04-0.10
0.85-0.042400.00700.31-0.05-0.16
0.76-0.062500.00930.41-0.06-0.25
0.66-0.072600.01130.48-0.07-0.35
0.54-0.072700.01230.52-0.07-0.47
0.42-0.072800.01210.51-0.07-0.59
0.31-0.072900.01090.46-0.06-0.70
0.22-0.053000.00910.39-0.05-0.80
0.14-0.043100.00700.30-0.04-0.88
0.09-0.033200.00520.23-0.04-0.94
0.06-0.023300.00360.16-0.04-0.99
0.04-0.023400.00250.12-0.05-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 43 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