Usman Salis
⬤ Iris Energy (IREN) is drawing serious attention from options traders heading into the January 23 expiration. The stock's hovering around $58 while max pain sits down at $50—that's an $8 gap that tells you something about where the smart money thinks this is headed. The options chart shows puts clustered way below current prices and calls stacked above, painting a pretty clear picture of what traders expect.
⬤ Most of the put interest sits between the low $20s and high $40s—well underneath where IREN's trading now. This looks more like insurance against a disaster scenario than any real bet on a drop. With expiration just days away, these puts seem to be about protecting positions rather than predicting where the stock's going.
⬤ The call side tells a different story entirely. Open interest builds steadily from the mid-$50s all the way up to $90, getting heavier as you go higher. That's significant because dealers who sold those calls might need to buy shares if the stock keeps climbing, which could add fuel to any rally that gets going.
⬤ Here's why this matters: when you've got this kind of call-heavy setup heading into expiration, it can create its own momentum. If buyers keep pushing, those higher strikes could act like magnets pulling the price up. But they can also become profit-taking zones once they're hit. Either way, the next few days could see some interesting price action as these contracts get closer to expiring worthless or in the money.
Usman Salis
