Key Levels — Max Pain, Gamma Walls & Expected Move

Max pain is the strike price at which the largest dollar amount of options expires worthless — the level that maximizes losses for option buyers. Underlying prices often gravitate toward max pain into expiration as dealers hedge accumulated open interest.

Expected move (the σ band) is derived from at-the-money implied volatility for the selected expiration, scaled by time to expiration. The 1σ band represents roughly a 68% probability range under a lognormal model.

Strikes where multiple unrelated indicators agree — for example a positive GEX wall, max pain, and a prior swing high — tend to act as more durable support or resistance than levels supported by one signal alone.