What does a high or low put-call ratio mean?

It only says whether more puts or more calls are open. Puts and calls are bought and sold for many reasons, including hedging, so the ratio on its own is not a signal.

Does the price settle at max pain?

There is no rule that it does. Max pain is simply the strike where option buyers as a group would receive the least, worked out from today’s open interest.

NSE’s option chain is shown a few minutes late, and the time of NSE’s snapshot is printed in the source line.

Option chain

Open interest at each strike for Nifty Financial Services index options on NSE, with the put-call ratio and max pain worked out from the whole chain. These are measures of open positions, not forecasts.

Stock

Nifty Financial Services, expiry 23 November 2026

Index level: 27,384.90
Put-call ratio (open interest): 1.12
Max pain strike: 26,450
Most call open interest: 27,500 (991 contracts)
Most put open interest: 27,000 (823 contracts)

How to read this

Put-call ratio (PCR) is total put open interest divided by total call open interest for this expiry. Max pain is the strike at which all option contracts together would be worth the least on expiry.

Open interest is the number of contracts still open, not the number traded today. Both figures describe existing positions; they are not forecasts.

What does a high or low put-call ratio mean?: It only says whether more puts or more calls are open. Puts and calls are bought and sold for many reasons, including hedging, so the ratio on its own is not a signal.
Does the price settle at max pain?: There is no rule that it does. Max pain is simply the strike where option buyers as a group would receive the least, worked out from today’s open interest.
How delayed is this?: NSE’s option chain is shown a few minutes late, and the time of NSE’s snapshot is printed in the source line.

Open interest by strike

CallsStrikePuts

2726,90046

2026,95057

32927,000823

3127,05040

9527,100137

3327,15069

13027,200158

6627,25045

28327,300316

4827,35054

6327,40032

3327,45027

99127,50024

2927,5502

5327,60019

2527,6504

5827,7002

1527,7501

2627,8001

1127,8500

How to read this

Each row is a strike price. Bars to the left are call open interest; bars to the right are put open interest. Longer bars mean more open contracts.

In the change chart, a rise means new positions were opened today and a fall means positions were closed. It does not say whether buyers or sellers started them.

Change in open interest today

CallsStrikePuts

+626,900−13

+326,950+1

−3227,000−176

027,050−8

−2327,100−12

+1127,150+37

+6927,200+101

+3227,250+24

+22627,300+101

+2927,350+37

+3827,400+24

+1027,450+23

+15827,500+19

+427,550+2

+2327,600+19

+327,650+4

+227,700+2

−427,750+1

+327,800−5

+627,8500

Faded bars are falls in open interest (positions closed); solid bars are rises (new positions).

Max pain: what option writers would pay at each expiry level

26,90027,850

Each bar is the total value of in-the-money calls and puts across the whole chain if the index settled at that strike on expiry. The yellow bar, the lowest, is the max pain strike, 26,450. Not a forecast of where the index will settle.

Chain near the index level

Call OI	Call OI change	Call price	Strike	Put price	Put OI change	Put OI
36	−7	837.75	26,650	177.10	+4	44
74	−1	781.85	26,700	190.00	−21	87
107	−17	737.95	26,750	196.10	+6	51
128	−2	718.00	26,800	206.10	−10	65
33	+1	680.05	26,850	210.50	0	39
27	+6	654.10	26,900	231.15	−13	46
20	+3	616.45	26,950	247.85	+1	57
329	−32	540.45	27,000	302.00	−176	823
31	0	553.25	27,050	285.35	−8	40
95	−23	538.90	27,100	299.70	−12	137
33	+11	482.70	27,150	317.00	+37	69
130	+69	471.35	27,200	338.00	+101	158
66	+32	393.65	27,250	358.30	+24	45
283	+226	416.00	27,300	420.00	+101	316
48	+29	395.30	27,350	408.45	+37	54
63	+38	344.40	27,400	465.00	+24	32
33	+10	341.70	27,450	462.95	+23	27
991	+158	280.00	27,500	474.75	+19	24
29	+4	265.70	27,550	525.30	+2	2
53	+23	279.85	27,600	609.25	+19	19
25	+3	261.50	27,650	601.40	+4	4
58	+2	233.90	27,700	630.10	+2	2
15	−4	219.10	27,750	665.95	+1	1
26	+3	202.30	27,800	700.25	−5	1
11	+6	188.60	27,850	–	0	0
12	+12	154.85	27,900	–	0	0
9	+9	164.00	27,950	–	0	0
397	−189	141.80	28,000	–	0	1
19	+19	138.30	28,050	–	0	0
4	+4	127.40	28,100	–	0	0

Source: NSE, 09-Nov-2026 15:40:00, delayed. Open interest is in contracts. The strike in bold is the one nearest the index level. Prices are the last traded premium.

F&O ban list for 9 November 2026

What the ban means

1 stock is in the ban period: new positions in its futures and options are not allowed, only reducing existing ones.

Kaynes Technology India

Source: NSE, published each evening for the next trading day.

Most active option contracts today

Contract	Price	Change	Contracts traded	Open interest
NIFTY 25,000 CallIndex option · expires 9 Nov	44.50	−70.3%	3.06 Cr	1.49 L
NIFTY 24,900 PutIndex option · expires 9 Nov	0.05	−99.9%	2.90 Cr	2.25 L
NIFTY 25,100 CallIndex option · expires 9 Nov	0.05	−100.0%	2.24 Cr	2.21 L
NIFTY 25,000 PutIndex option · expires 9 Nov	0.05	−100.0%	2.07 Cr	2.73 L
NIFTY 25,050 CallIndex option · expires 9 Nov	0.05	−100.0%	2.07 Cr	2.21 L
NIFTY 24,950 PutIndex option · expires 9 Nov	0.05	−100.0%	1.98 Cr	2.19 L
NIFTY 24,800 PutIndex option · expires 9 Nov	0.05	−99.9%	1.89 Cr	1.15 L
NIFTY 24,850 PutIndex option · expires 9 Nov	0.05	−99.9%	1.80 Cr	1.04 L
NIFTY 24,950 CallIndex option · expires 9 Nov	94.60	−44.2%	1.77 Cr	63,758
NIFTY 24,900 CallIndex option · expires 9 Nov	144.35	−28.9%	1.70 Cr	58,843
NIFTY 25,200 CallIndex option · expires 9 Nov	0.05	−99.9%	1.59 Cr	1.14 L
NIFTY 25,150 CallIndex option · expires 9 Nov	0.05	−99.9%	1.30 Cr	89,012
NIFTY 24,700 PutIndex option · expires 9 Nov	0.05	−99.9%	1.09 Cr	91,825
NIFTY 24,750 PutIndex option · expires 9 Nov	0.05	−99.9%	1.07 Cr	70,879
NIFTY 25,300 CallIndex option · expires 9 Nov	0.10	−99.8%	1.02 Cr	1.26 L
NIFTY 25,250 CallIndex option · expires 9 Nov	0.05	−99.9%	87.51 L	1.06 L
NIFTY 24,600 PutIndex option · expires 9 Nov	0.05	−99.8%	71.06 L	92,110
NIFTY 25,400 CallIndex option · expires 9 Nov	0.05	−99.8%	70.65 L	1.09 L
NIFTY 25,050 PutIndex option · expires 9 Nov	5.30	−96.7%	70.64 L	1.11 L
NIFTY 25,500 CallIndex option · expires 9 Nov	0.05	−99.7%	65.53 L	1.25 L

Source: NSE, by number of contracts traded today, delayed. A busy contract is not a signal to trade it.

Information only, not advice to trade. Futures and options are high-risk: SEBI’s study of FY2022 to FY2024 found that about 9 in 10 individual traders in equity F&O made a net loss.