Both gravity and “max pain” get described as the price a stock is drawn toward. They're computed from different math and answer different questions, and conflating them muddies your read.
What max pain is
Max pain is the strike at which the greatest dollar value of options expires worthless — the point of maximum loss for option buyers, and the level a heavily-pinned stock sometimes gravitates to into expiration. It's an accounting measure over the full open-interest picture, and it's essentially static for a given expiration: one number, most relevant in the final hours before options expire.
What gravity is
Gravity is the |gamma|-weighted center of the dealer book — the balance point of hedging pressure right now. It's dynamic, shifting through the session as positioning, price, and time change, and it reflects live hedging rather than expiration accounting. It's an intraday magnet, not an end-of-day settlement target.
Max pain asks “where do options hurt buyers most at expiry?” Gravity asks “where is dealer hedging balanced right now?” Different questions, often different prices.
How to use each
Lean on max pain as a soft target into a big expiration, especially late on OPEX day. Lean on gravity as an intraday mean-reversion target on any calm day. They sometimes sit near each other, and when they do the magnet is stronger; when they diverge, they're simply measuring different forces. Neither is a guaranteed pin — both are context that tilts the odds, best read alongside the rest of the dealer map.
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NoVo is a software tool for market analysis, not financial advice. This article is general education, not investment advice. Options trading involves substantial risk of loss, up to and including your entire capital. NoVo makes no guarantee of profit, win rate, or performance, and past results do not predict future outcomes. You are responsible for your own broker account, configuration, and trading decisions.
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