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 Midcap Select 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 Midcap Select, expiry 23 November 2026

Index level: 14,055.45
Put-call ratio (open interest): 1.10
Max pain strike: 13,700
Most call open interest: 14,000 (8,530 contracts)
Most put open interest: 13,000 (8,875 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

22513,825100

10313,850256

10313,875219

72813,9001,136

15513,925187

17913,950363

23713,975225

8,53014,0005,574

25914,025145

18114,05089

7214,07580

96414,100558

12914,12548

14714,15043

16514,17524

3,85414,200303

5814,22537

11214,25011

4514,27519

1,42614,30024

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

−1813,825−28

−5513,850−181

+1013,875+53

−20113,900−146

+313,925+43

−6213,950+153

+5513,975+92

+23214,000+1,066

+10914,025+55

+1214,050−32

−2314,075−5

−1414,100−11

+4914,125+19

+2914,150+8

+7714,175+12

+99414,200−8

−514,225+21

+414,2500

−414,275+4

−43214,300+2

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

13,82514,300

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, 13,700. 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
605	−172	456.00	13,700	99.30	+30	1,164
79	−3	420.00	13,725	101.70	−9	53
84	−10	402.50	13,750	109.70	−14	217
86	0	389.20	13,775	118.15	−34	107
1,765	+2	379.40	13,800	126.15	+152	2,406
225	−18	373.55	13,825	131.00	−28	100
103	−55	355.65	13,850	144.70	−181	256
103	+10	326.15	13,875	147.80	+53	219
728	−201	315.10	13,900	157.45	−146	1,136
155	+3	305.00	13,925	172.20	+43	187
179	−62	284.60	13,950	181.25	+153	363
237	+55	276.65	13,975	186.70	+92	225
8,530	+232	259.95	14,000	198.95	+1,066	5,574
259	+109	265.50	14,025	210.60	+55	145
181	+12	231.60	14,050	220.25	−32	89
72	−23	223.15	14,075	241.20	−5	80
964	−14	213.10	14,100	246.50	−11	558
129	+49	197.90	14,125	254.80	+19	48
147	+29	185.65	14,150	268.10	+8	43
165	+77	174.55	14,175	288.00	+12	24
3,854	+994	167.00	14,200	300.10	−8	303
58	−5	154.90	14,225	313.45	+21	37
112	+4	147.15	14,250	347.90	0	11
45	−4	135.60	14,275	361.90	+4	19
1,426	−432	129.00	14,300	361.00	+2	24
39	−5	119.80	14,325	372.40	+7	11
84	+23	109.10	14,350	389.20	+4	12
58	+13	102.35	14,375	433.30	+12	14
3,163	−409	95.95	14,400	433.50	+13	20
41	+2	89.95	14,425	444.50	+3	5

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 11 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	1.45 L
NIFTY 24,900 PutIndex option · expires 9 Nov	0.05	−99.9%	2.90 Cr	2.24 L
NIFTY 25,100 CallIndex option · expires 9 Nov	0.05	−100.0%	2.24 Cr	2.13 L
NIFTY 25,000 PutIndex option · expires 9 Nov	0.05	−100.0%	2.07 Cr	2.71 L
NIFTY 25,050 CallIndex option · expires 9 Nov	0.05	−100.0%	2.07 Cr	2.20 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	1.11 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	61,656
NIFTY 24,900 CallIndex option · expires 9 Nov	144.35	−28.9%	1.70 Cr	57,632
NIFTY 25,200 CallIndex option · expires 9 Nov	0.05	−99.9%	1.59 Cr	1.12 L
NIFTY 25,150 CallIndex option · expires 9 Nov	0.05	−99.9%	1.30 Cr	88,824
NIFTY 24,700 PutIndex option · expires 9 Nov	0.05	−99.9%	1.09 Cr	86,177
NIFTY 24,750 PutIndex option · expires 9 Nov	0.05	−99.9%	1.07 Cr	65,282
NIFTY 25,300 CallIndex option · expires 9 Nov	0.10	−99.8%	1.02 Cr	1.18 L
NIFTY 25,250 CallIndex option · expires 9 Nov	0.05	−99.9%	87.51 L	1.05 L
NIFTY 24,600 PutIndex option · expires 9 Nov	0.05	−99.8%	71.06 L	87,597
NIFTY 25,400 CallIndex option · expires 9 Nov	0.05	−99.8%	70.65 L	95,748
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	1.24 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.