Max Pain Pinning Candidates — Spot Near Max Pain + Concentrated Gamma

As of April 21, 2026 (end-of-day snapshot). Pages update daily after the market close.

Liquid names where spot is currently close to the front-month max-pain strike AND dealer gamma is concentrated across relatively few strikes on that chain. The combination can create pinning pressure around the max-pain level, which is the mechanism behind the pinning effect. The pinning effect is conditionally real — strongest on high-OI index ETFs in the final days before expiration, weaker or absent elsewhere — so treat these as candidate setups, not guaranteed pins.

Top 50 by Pin Score

The live pin-candidate leaderboard loads after the page hydrates. Rows are ranked by a composite of chain-wide gamma concentration × total OI divided by the spot-to-max-pain gap, filtered to liquid names where spot sits within ±2% of the front-month max-pain strike.

Methodology

Sourced from daily EOD ORATS option_ticker_snapshots. Eligibility: total_oi ≥ 100,000 contracts, spot ≥ $5, |spot − max pain| / spot ≤ 2%, front_dte ≤ 45 (typically the front monthly expiration at ~27–45 DTE), and chain-wide gamma_concentration ≥ 0.10. Ranked by composite score = (gamma_concentration × total_oi) / max(gap%, 0.01). Important nuance: the gamma_concentration field is a Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) computed over the full by-strike distribution of |net gamma| across the whole chain, not the specific share of gamma sitting at or near max pain. So this screener identifies "spot near max pain" co-occurring with "globally concentrated gamma on the chain" — not "gamma piled exactly at max pain." That distinction matters: the signal is circumstantial, not structurally causal. Updated daily after market close.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is max pain pinning a real effect?

Conditionally. The pinning effect is strongest on high-OI index ETFs (SPY, QQQ, IWM) in the final days before a monthly expiration, and weaker or absent on lower-liquidity single names. This screener filters for the conditions most correlated with pinning pressure but does not guarantee an individual pin will occur.

What is a pin trade?

A trade structured to profit if the underlying closes near a specific strike at expiration. Iron flies (sell ATM straddle + buy protective wings) and butterflies are the standard retail-accessible structures. All pin trades carry defined max loss and benefit from declining implied volatility into expiration.

What exactly does gamma_concentration measure?

It is the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) of |net gamma| across all strikes on the chain — effectively, how few strikes the gamma is piled into. A high value means the chain's gamma is dominated by a small number of strikes; a low value means gamma is spread across many strikes. This field does NOT isolate gamma sitting at the max-pain strike specifically. The screener uses it as a proxy: when spot is near max pain AND the chain has concentrated gamma somewhere, pinning pressure is more likely to be structurally present than when gamma is diffuse.

Does this include weekly expirations?

No — the persistent daily snapshot we project from buckets to the front monthly expiration (typically 27–45 DTE). For weekly-expiration pin analysis, use the per-ticker options chain page near expiration.