DURA Max Pain

Max pain is the strike price where total option holder intrinsic value is minimized at expiration - the strike at which dealers and option sellers collectively lose the least money. Many traders use it as a magnet for expiration-day price action.

Max pain is a probabilistic tendency, not a guarantee. It works best when (1) pin probability is above 60, (2) dealer alignment is converging (max pain near gamma flip and between walls), (3) gamma regime is positive, and (4) there's no major catalyst before expiration. For DURA these conditions can be checked above using the dealer alignment card.

For each candidate settlement price K, you sum the intrinsic value across all open call and put contracts: Pain(K) = sum of max(K - K_put, 0) * OI_put + sum of max(K_call - K, 0) * OI_call. The strike that minimises this total is max pain. FlashAlpha computes this live across all DURA expirations and surfaces it via the Max Pain API.

Max pain is based on open interest and minimises total option payouts at expiration. Gamma flip is based on OI weighted by gamma and the spot price - it marks where dealer hedging behavior changes from supportive (positive gamma) to amplifying (negative gamma). When DURA's max pain and gamma flip converge, the pin signal is strongest because both forces point to the same level.