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 50 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 50, expiry 29 December 2026

Index level: 24,928.80
Put-call ratio (open interest): 1.38
Max pain strike: 24,500
Most call open interest: 26,000 (57,336 contracts)
Most put open interest: 22,000 (59,357 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

1,84724,4502,552

18,78524,50021,426

35324,550992

4,41224,6002,600

28224,650271

2,05424,7001,924

36924,750313

6,62524,8003,015

25224,850255

1,65824,9001,441

49824,950450

47,81425,00046,016

41925,050186

1,92425,1001,009

40025,150157

4,99725,2001,582

19325,250217

1,37625,300440

19525,35058

1,63225,400202

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

−3424,450−354

−63824,500+1,520

−1024,550−12

−4724,600+81

−2924,650−40

−7224,700+66

−3024,750−19

024,800−276

−3124,850+6

+26224,900+359

+3824,950+96

−1,61825,000+1,907

+3925,050−37

+14625,100+288

+2825,150+4

+34825,200+79

+3625,250−18

+9125,300+156

+8025,350+7

+32925,400+23

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

24,45025,400

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, 24,500. 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
2,016	−32	1,110.00	24,200	225.80	+109	3,130
641	−17	1,092.25	24,250	237.80	−74	297
2,402	−28	1,010.00	24,300	245.00	−68	2,896
538	−4	1,030.45	24,350	257.30	−54	319
2,202	−63	948.15	24,400	276.65	−103	3,769
1,847	−34	942.60	24,450	287.90	−354	2,552
18,785	−638	886.75	24,500	294.20	+1,520	21,426
353	−10	873.10	24,550	317.60	−12	992
4,412	−47	810.65	24,600	323.95	+81	2,600
282	−29	777.15	24,650	340.80	−40	271
2,054	−72	747.50	24,700	364.15	+66	1,924
369	−30	739.85	24,750	382.00	−19	313
6,625	0	685.95	24,800	391.65	−276	3,015
252	−31	666.50	24,850	420.60	+6	255
1,658	+262	626.00	24,900	429.60	+359	1,441
498	+38	588.90	24,950	463.65	+96	450
47,814	−1,618	567.05	25,000	472.45	+1,907	46,016
419	+39	543.80	25,050	493.25	−37	186
1,924	+146	517.00	25,100	515.00	+288	1,009
400	+28	471.05	25,150	549.70	+4	157
4,997	+348	466.00	25,200	568.75	+79	1,582
193	+36	428.25	25,250	569.65	−18	217
1,376	+91	417.05	25,300	611.75	+156	440
195	+80	386.55	25,350	574.50	+7	58
1,632	+329	373.00	25,400	674.00	+23	202
311	+194	351.00	25,450	691.95	+15	62
23,983	+4,107	329.35	25,500	726.65	+1,546	13,400
214	+90	306.85	25,550	783.35	+52	64
1,703	+173	295.60	25,600	772.00	+88	163
146	+27	272.75	25,650	781.10	+83	89

Source: NSE, 09-Nov-2026 12:05:38, 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 24,900 PutIndex option · expires 9 Nov	35.65	−62.4%	1.09 Cr	3.55 L
NIFTY 25,000 CallIndex option · expires 9 Nov	63.80	−57.5%	1.08 Cr	4.39 L
NIFTY 24,800 PutIndex option · expires 9 Nov	14.85	−76.1%	79.54 L	2.91 L
NIFTY 24,900 CallIndex option · expires 9 Nov	120.75	−40.5%	72.67 L	1.18 L
NIFTY 25,100 CallIndex option · expires 9 Nov	31.50	−71.8%	68.96 L	3.60 L
NIFTY 24,950 CallIndex option · expires 9 Nov	88.85	−47.6%	68.36 L	1.54 L
NIFTY 24,850 PutIndex option · expires 9 Nov	22.70	−70.7%	65.63 L	2.06 L
NIFTY 25,000 PutIndex option · expires 9 Nov	78.45	−43.5%	63.52 L	2.53 L
NIFTY 24,950 PutIndex option · expires 9 Nov	53.20	−54.0%	63.44 L	2.55 L
NIFTY 25,200 CallIndex option · expires 9 Nov	14.65	−80.5%	55.13 L	3.05 L
NIFTY 25,050 CallIndex option · expires 9 Nov	45.15	−66.0%	53.03 L	2.23 L
NIFTY 24,700 PutIndex option · expires 9 Nov	6.30	−84.3%	45.18 L	1.88 L
NIFTY 24,750 PutIndex option · expires 9 Nov	9.45	−80.9%	42.28 L	1.42 L
NIFTY 25,300 CallIndex option · expires 9 Nov	6.25	−87.4%	41.12 L	2.39 L
NIFTY 25,500 CallIndex option · expires 9 Nov	1.75	−90.7%	40.81 L	3.03 L
NIFTY 25,150 CallIndex option · expires 9 Nov	21.30	−76.9%	38.24 L	1.92 L
NIFTY 25,400 CallIndex option · expires 9 Nov	2.90	−90.3%	36.83 L	2.15 L
NIFTY 24,500 PutIndex option · expires 9 Nov	1.95	−88.9%	33.89 L	2.67 L
NIFTY 24,600 PutIndex option · expires 9 Nov	3.10	−88.0%	33.19 L	1.81 L
NIFTY 25,250 CallIndex option · expires 9 Nov	9.30	−84.8%	31.93 L	1.85 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.