The idea that market makers push stocks to max pain at expiry is complete nonsense. Someone in the Discord asked me about a take that gets posted around every OPEX. It says market makers make the most money if the stock pins at max pain, so after a big rally they've got an incentive to drive the price lower and wipe out all that in-the-money call premium. Think about what a market maker actually holds. They sold a call, it's gone deep in the money, and they've hedged it with stock or futures. At that point they don't care that it's in the money. The hedge is doing the work. They've got zero interest in making the stock drop so the option loses its intrinsic value. Their P&L doesn't really depend on it. So I'd take anyone building a whole OPEX thesis on that with a big pinch of salt. The real number to care about into expiry is CHARM, i'll put out an article about that soon.