Maximum pain for an options chain can show the option trader the expiration date price that will cause the option buyers to lose the most money. The max pain level is the strike price with the highest volume of open contract put options and call options for a set expiration date. The maximum pain price is the specific price where the underlying stock would cause the most loss to the largest number of option holders if the underlying expires there. The maximum pain theory says that an options pricing chain open interest will move towards and show the max pain price, many times the max pain price will be equal to the ... (full story)