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Index readings from the same feed the Sahi terminal runs on. Open the live Open Interest to see this guide applied to today’s numbers.
- NIFTY — —
- BANKNIFTY — —
- SENSEX — —
What you will learn
- ARead the Max pain view in a minute
- BWork the sum by hand
- CSee what moves the level, and what does not
- DUse it without fooling yourself
- ↻Run a routine
- 1
- rule: the lowest total payout over every strike
- 61
- strikes tested on the pictures' expiry, not only the 21 drawn
- 0
- forecasts in the number: it describes the book as it stands
- 21
- strikes drawn when the view opens
First 5 Minutes
The question What do I do first, if I read nothing else?
Do this first
- Open the Open Interest page and press Max pain in the view switch at the top right.
- Find the amber flag Max pain 24550 and the amber dot on the thin line across the tops of the columns. The dot sits on the lowest point of that line.
- Read a column as a sum: the red part is what Call writers would pay if the expiry ended at that strike, the green part on top is what Put writers would pay. The height is the total.
- Compare max pain with the last traded price (the grey LTP flag). Here the strike is 37.65 points above it. That gap is a fact about the book, not a forecast.
- Rest the pointer on any strike for half a second. The card names the two amounts in rupees crore.
- Say it in one sentence: if the expiry ended at 24550, the Call and Put positions now open would owe ₹1098Cr in total, the least of all 61 strikes. Then stop. The page does not say that price will go there.
No time? Read the sum, then why it is a convention and not a force on price. On an expiry morning? The expiry-day routine. For a tour of the rest of the Open Interest page (the other three views, the windows, the insight), use the Open Interest guide; this guide teaches max pain itself, from the first idea to the limits.
Values in this guide are as of 5 October 2026, read from the source files listed in the Sources section. Everything this guide could not confirm is gathered once, in What we have not verified.
What Max Pain Is
The question What is the number, in plain words, and what is it not?
One Strike, Chosen by Arithmetic
Every option contract on an expiry ends in one of two ways: it is worth something at expiry, or it is worth nothing. A Call is worth the amount by which the final price is above its strike. A Put is worth the amount by which the final price is below its strike. Suppose the expiry ended at some price K. Add up what every open Call and every open Put would then be worth. That total is the pain at K. Max pain is the listed strike K where this total is the smallest.
The page reads the total as what option writers (the sellers) would have to pay out, because every rupee a buyer's contract is worth at expiry is a rupee a seller owes. So max pain is the settlement strike that would cost the sellers least. The page words it from the buyers’ side, which is the same sum: The strike where the total payout to option buyers at expiry is smallest.
What It Does Not Do
- It does not forecast. It is arithmetic on the contracts that are open now. It does not say that price will end there, move towards it or stay near it.
- It does not know who holds the contracts. A writer may be hedged with another option or with futures. The sum counts every open contract as an outright position.
- It is not the strike with the most Open Interest. That is a wall. Max pain can sit on a strike with little Open Interest of its own, because it is built from what lies on both sides.
- It ignores premium. Only the value at expiry is summed, not what anyone paid.
- It places no orders and gives no signal. The page prints the level and says in words whether spot is above or below it, with the distance, and nothing more.
Where the Numbers Come From, and How Fresh They Are
The question What does the page sum, how current is it, and in what unit?
- The book is Open Interest by strike. For one expiry the page needs, at every strike, the Open Interest of the Call and of the Put. It reads them from the stored readings of the day and from the option chain's own reading, which is re-fetched about every 5 seconds in market hours. The stored readings are re-read about once a minute while the market is open and the tab is visible.
- The sum runs on the whole expiry, every listed strike, never only the strikes drawn. On the pictures' expiry that is 61 strikes (from 23000 to 26000); the plane shows 21.
- The unit is rupees, and it is not per lot. Open Interest is counted in units of the underlying, not lots. Points times units is rupees, so the page labels the axis Pain · ₹ and prints crore. It does not divide by the lot size (65 for NIFTY, printed on the page as 65 per lot), and a constant factor could not change which strike is lowest anyway.
- The level is worked again for every reading. There is no stored "max pain of the day" on this page. Step the chart back in time and it is worked from that earlier reading (Part C).
What the Page Needs Before It Can Draw
Max pain needs one reading with some Open Interest in it. It does not need an earlier reading, so it can be drawn early in the session, before the change views have anything to compare with. If every Open Interest figure is zero the plane says so and draws nothing. If neither the stored readings nor the chain can be read the page says Open interest unavailable. All three are pictured in The States.
Five Words to Know Before the First Column
The question Which few words must I know before the plane makes sense?
- Strike
- The price at which an option can be exercised. One column of the plane is one strike. The strike nearest the price is the at-the-money strike, bold in a capsule on the rail.
- Open Interest
- The number of option contracts still open at a strike. It rises when new contracts are opened and falls when contracts are closed. It is not volume, which counts trades.
- Writer
- The seller of an option. A writer receives the premium and owes the payout if the option finishes in the money. The page's words Call writers pay and Put writers pay use this sense.
- Settlement strike
- A price at which the expiry is imagined to end, tested one listed strike at a time. It is a candidate, not a prediction.
- Pain, and the basin
- Pain is the total owed at one settlement strike, in rupees. The thin line across the tops of the columns joins those totals; with high pain far to either side it curves like a bowl, the basin. Its lowest point is max pain.
The full list is in the glossary. In this guide Calls and Puts are written in full; the codes CE and PE appear nowhere on the page.
Read the view
What is every part of the Max pain view, and in what order do I read it?
The View Map
The question What am I looking at, and where do I start?
Max pain is one of the four views of the Open Interest page. The page bar, the symbol, the expiry, the Customise panel and the other three views are toured in the Open Interest guide; here only what matters for max pain is covered, in the order you read it: the level first (parts 3 and 4), then how it is built (5 and 6), then the scale and the key (7 to 9).
123456789The view switch and the information button
The question How do I get to the Max pain view, and where is the short help?
The page bar holds a capsule with four choices: Open interest, OI change, Strike PCR and Max pain. All four read the same board of Open Interest; only the drawing differs. The choice is remembered in your browser, so the page opens on Max pain the next time. Beside the title is a round information button. For this view it is named How to read Max pain and opens a help panel with four tabs, Overview, Controls, Key terms and Guide, and a link to this guide.
The panel's caution is the sentence this guide keeps coming back to: Max pain is not a price target. It changes whenever the option book changes.
The stacked columns, the line and the dot
The question What does one column say, and what does the line across them say?
Each column stands for one candidate settlement strike. Its height is the pain at that strike: what the open Call and Put contracts would be worth in total if the expiry ended there. The column has two parts, stacked.
| Part | What it is | How it is made |
|---|---|---|
| Red part (bottom) | Call writers pay: the value of every open Call struck below this column's strike | Sum of (this strike − Call strike) × Call Open Interest, over those Calls |
| Green part (top) | Put writers pay: the value of every open Put struck above this column's strike | Sum of (Put strike − this strike) × Put Open Interest, over those Puts |
| The thin line | Both sides together, drawn across the tops of the columns | One point per drawn strike; it forms the basin |
| The amber dot | The floor of the basin: the lowest total, which is max pain | Drawn on the line at the max pain strike, and only if that strike is among the drawn strikes |
Why a basin? Far below the money almost every Put is in the money and almost no Call is, so the green part is large. Far above it, the reverse. In the middle both parts are small. The lowest total therefore lies somewhere in between, where the Call and Put positions balance. The exact balance point is worked in Part B.
Look at the neighbours. The line is almost flat for a step either side of the dot, so one strike is hardly lower than the next. How flat is the floor, and what that means, is the subject of Part B and Part C.
The level marks, and the Max pain flag
The question Where is max pain on the plane, and which other levels share it?
Above the plane, two labelled rules stand on the strikes they name: the LTP (the last traded price of the underlying) and Max pain. The Open Interest walls, Support and Resistance, belong to the other three views and are not drawn here. Each rule has a short leader that bends towards its label, so the labels stay readable when the two levels are close. The Max pain rule is dashed amber, like the dot.
Two Things to Know About the Flag
- It is the whole expiry's max pain. The flag and the dot are placed on the strike that the full sum chose, not the lowest drawn column. If you draw fewer strikes the dot may be missing (Part C).
- It has its own switch. In Customise, Chart, Levels draws or hides the Max pain flag and its rule. With it off the LTP flag and the amber dot remain.
Possible support and possible resistance, which the Open Interest views draw, are different from max pain. They are the centres of the strongest clusters of Put and Call Open Interest within 12 steps of the money, snapped to a listed strike. They answer a question about where positions are concentrated. Max pain answers a different one, about where the total payout is least, and uses every strike. The two sets of levels often disagree, and that is not an error.
The pain axis, the strike rail and the chart key (in the information panel)
The question What scale are the columns on, and where is the key to the colours?
The axis prints rupees in crore (one crore is ten million), with L for lakh when a step is below a crore. Its top is set from the tallest column among the strikes drawn, not from the whole book. So the same level looks deeper or flatter when you change the number of strikes (Part C), and two pictures with different axes cannot be compared by eye.
The strike rail under the plane lists the strikes from the lowest on the left. The at-the-money strike is bold in a capsule.
The chart key is not a row under the plot. It is the first set of terms in the information panel, on its Key terms tab (Step 1): Call writers pay (red), Put writers pay (teal) and Both sides together (the line across the tops: the total payout, whose lowest point is Max pain), then a Reading term that names the expiry and the day every column belongs to, for example 6 Oct expiry · On 30 Sep. A max pain without its expiry cannot be placed, so check that term. The Window choice in Customise (15m, 30m, 1h, Day, Custom) leaves this plane exactly as it is: max pain is the book as it stands, not the change in a window.
The strike card: what one strike would cost
The question What would the writers pay at this particular strike, and how far is it from the price?
Rest the mouse pointer on a column for about half a second and a card opens. Press or tap the column and the card stays, with a cross to close it. With the keyboard, Tab lands on the money strike; arrow keys, Home and End move along the strikes; Enter or Space pins the card. In this view the card has one block, If it settles here, with two rows in the key's own words. The card of the max pain strike itself adds a second block, Spot against Max Pain, described below.
These two amounts add up to the height of the column: ₹637Cr and ₹461Cr are the rounded halves of the ₹1098Cr the insight prints (Step 6). The card rounds to a whole crore; the insight prints two decimals.
Move the pointer to read the same rows at other strikes: the Call amount rises as you go up, the Put amount rises as you go down. That crossing is the whole idea of the basin.
Which Way Is the Distance Measured?
The same gap is printed three ways on this page. The pinned card says 38 pts / 0.15% above spot: the strike against the price, so the strike is above the price. The position read says Spot is below Max Pain: the price against the strike, so the price is below it. The insight says Price against max pain −37.65 pts: price minus max pain, a negative number for the same reason. They are one gap read from opposite ends, so the signs and the words differ. The pinned card rounds to a whole point (38); the read keeps one decimal (37.7); the insight keeps two (37.65).
Spot Against Max Pain: the Position Read
Under the plot the page prints one plain line that places spot against the level, with the distance in points, in per cent and in strikes, and a note. It appears under the plot on this view, in the card of the max pain strike (the block Spot against Max Pain) and in the hover card of the Max Pain capsule on the Option Chain (Part D). It is a position, not a verdict: it carries no Bullish or Bearish word, and its note reads Not a prediction. It is printed only when the book names one real max pain strike; with a tie for the lowest total, an empty book or the money-strike fallback there is no level to read, and the line is left out.
The strike count is the distance divided by the gap between neighbouring listed strikes, rounded to a whole strike (under 1 strike when it is under half a step). Here 37.7 points is about one strike of 50.
The insight: max pain in words, with its working
The question Where does the page write max pain down, and can I see the sum it did?
Above the plane the insight row sits closed. Press View insight and it opens: a verdict, a choice of window for the change measures, and four sentences. Max pain is in the last of them.
The verdict at the top is not a max pain verdict. It is decided by four other readings (positions, the Put/Call Ratio, the movement of support and resistance, and the index over the window); max pain takes no part in it. The page prints where spot sits against max pain in words (the position read) and no Bullish or Bearish word, and does not turn the gap into one.
Press Full detail and calculations for the detail panel. Under Key levels max pain is listed with the walls and the price, by distance from the index.
Open Show the 9 calculations to see the sum itself. Four lines concern max pain:
| Line | Formula the page prints | In the picture |
|---|---|---|
| Max pain | For each settlement strike S: Σ CALL Open Interest × max(S − K, 0) + Σ PUT Open Interest × max(K − S, 0). The smallest total wins | At 24550: CALL ₹637.49Cr + PUT ₹460.97Cr = ₹1098Cr, the lowest of 61 strikes · next lowest at 24500 and 24600 |
| NIFTY price | The underlying price carried by the selected snapshot | 24512.35 at 2:20 pm |
| Price against max pain | price − max pain, in index points | 24512.35 − 24550 = −37.65 pts (−0.15%) |
| Max pain moved | max pain now − max pain at the window's opening snapshot | 24550 − 24550 = 0 pts over the last 15 minutes |
Two details of the working. The total is printed in whole crore once it is a thousand crore or more (₹1098Cr), and with two decimals below that (₹637.49Cr). And next lowest at 24500 and 24600 names the runners-up, a first look at how flat the floor is; Part B measures it. The note under the line is the page's own caution: A settlement-payout reference. The calculation does not say price finishes here.
The Rule, in Words and in Symbols
The question What is added up, for which strikes, and which total wins?
Take every listed strike of the expiry as a candidate settlement strike, one at a time. For each candidate K:
- Calls. Look at every Call struck below K. Each is in the money by (K − its strike) points. Multiply by its Open Interest and add them all. This is Call writers pay.
- Puts. Look at every Put struck above K. Each is in the money by (its strike − K) points. Multiply by its Open Interest and add them all. This is Put writers pay.
- Total. Add the two. That is the pain at K, the height of the column.
- Choose. The candidate with the smallest total is max pain.
pain(K) = Σ (K − k) × Call Open Interest(k) for every listed strike k < K
+ Σ (k − K) × Put Open Interest(k) for every listed strike k > K
max pain = the listed K with the smallest pain(K)
The page prints the same rule in its own words: For each settlement strike S: Σ CALL Open Interest × max(S − K, 0) + Σ PUT Open Interest × max(K − S, 0). The smallest total wins. (Its letters differ: S is the candidate, K is the contract's strike.) A Call struck at or above K, or a Put struck at or below K, contributes nothing at K, because it would be worth nothing at expiry. A contract exactly at K also contributes nothing.
The Unit
Open Interest here is a count of units of the underlying, and each point of difference is one rupee per unit. So points × Open Interest is rupees, with no conversion. The page does not multiply by the lot size, and it does not need to: multiplying every total by the same number cannot change which one is the smallest.
A Board Small Enough to Work by Hand
The question Can I do the whole sum on paper, and see where the answer comes from?
The numbers on this board are illustrative, chosen to be round. Five strikes 100 points apart, with Open Interest in lakh (one lakh is a hundred thousand units). A point times a lakh units is ₹1 lakh, and a hundred lakh is ₹1 crore.
| Strike | 24300 | 24400 | 24500 | 24600 | 24700 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Call Open Interest, lakh | 2 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 1 |
| Put Open Interest, lakh | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Now each strike in turn. Each cell shows the terms, (points in the money) × (Open Interest in lakh), and their sum.
| If it settles at | Call writers pay (Calls struck below) | Put writers pay (Puts struck above) | Total, ₹ lakh |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24300 | 0 = 0 | 100 × 4 + 200 × 3 + 300 × 2 + 400 × 1 = 2000 | 2000 |
| 24400 | 100 × 2 = 200 | 100 × 3 + 200 × 2 + 300 × 1 = 1000 | 1200 |
| 24500 lowest | 200 × 2 + 100 × 3 = 700 | 100 × 2 + 200 × 1 = 400 | 1100 |
| 24600 | 300 × 2 + 200 × 3 + 100 × 6 = 1800 | 100 × 1 = 100 | 1900 |
| 24700 | 400 × 2 + 300 × 3 + 200 × 6 + 100 × 4 = 3300 | 0 = 0 | 3300 |
Read the first row as an example. If the expiry ended at 24300, no Call is in the money (none is struck below it), and every Put above it is: 100 × 4 + 200 × 3 + 300 × 2 + 400 × 1 = 2000 ₹ lakh. The lowest total is 1100 ₹ lakh at 24500, so max pain on this board is 24500. The next lowest is 24400 at 1200 ₹ lakh, 9.1% dearer. Draw the last column of the table as bars, each split into its Call part and its Put part, and you have the plot the page draws for the real book.
Check It on Paper
Cover the table and do the 24500 row yourself. Calls struck below 24500: the 24300 Call is 200 points in the money and has 2 lakh open; the 24400 Call is 100 points in the money and has 3 lakh open. Puts struck above: the 24600 Put is 100 points in the money and has 2 lakh open; the 24700 Put is 200 points in the money and has 1 lakh open. Add: 700 + 400 = 1100.
This board is not a market. The same steps, run over all 61 strikes of the real expiry on the pictures' made-up book, produce the line At 24550: CALL ₹637.49Cr + PUT ₹460.97Cr = ₹1098Cr, the lowest of 61 strikes (the last section of this part).
Why the Total Has a Floor, and Where It Is
The question Why does the line fall and then rise, and what decides the strike where it turns?
There is a shortcut that explains the shape. Move the candidate from one listed strike to the next, d points higher. Every Call at or below the strike you leave gains d points of value; every Put above it loses d points. So the total changes by
change in total = d × ( Call Open Interest at or below the strike you leave − Put Open Interest above it )
While the Put Open Interest above outweighs the Call Open Interest below, each step up makes the total smaller. Once the Call side outweighs the Put side, each step makes it larger. Max pain is the strike where that turns. On the toy board:
| Step | Call lakh at or below | Put lakh above | Change = d × (Calls − Puts) | Total after |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24300 → 24400 | 2 | 10 | 100 × (2 − 10) = −800 | 1200 |
| 24400 → 24500 | 5 | 6 | 100 × (5 − 6) = −100 | 1100 |
| 24500 → 24600 | 11 | 3 | 100 × (11 − 3) = +800 | 1900 |
| 24600 → 24700 | 15 | 1 | 100 × (15 − 1) = +1400 | 3300 |
The changes are negative up to the step into 24500 and positive after it. That is the basin, built without redoing the whole sum. It also says what moves max pain: Open Interest added at a strike changes the step sizes at every step that passes it, so one large block of Calls or Puts can move the floor several strikes.
How Flat Is the Floor?
Two boards can name the same strike and mean very different things. A sharp floor has dear neighbours; a shallow one has neighbours that are almost as cheap. The insight's next lowest at 24500 and 24600 lets you measure it. On the pictures' real-tool board:
- 24550 totals ₹1098.5Cr.
- 24500 is 0.27% dearer. That is almost no difference.
- 24600 is 5.21% dearer.
A floor that is 0.27% lower than its neighbour is a floor that a small change in the book can move by a strike. Part C shows exactly that happening to this book during the afternoon. The toy board has a floor 9.1% below its neighbour, which is much firmer.
The Rules at the Edges
The question What does the page do when the answer is not clear, or the data are missing?
Ties Go to the Strike Nearer the Money
Two strikes can have the same total. Change one number on the toy board (the 24600 Put from 2 lakh to 1) and the totals at 24400 and 24500 are both 1000:
| If it settles at | Call writers pay (Calls struck below) | Put writers pay (Puts struck above) | Total, ₹ lakh |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24300 | 0 = 0 | 100 × 4 + 200 × 3 + 300 × 1 + 400 × 1 = 1700 | 1700 |
| 24400 | 100 × 2 = 200 | 100 × 3 + 200 × 1 + 300 × 1 = 800 | 1000 |
| 24500 lowest | 200 × 2 + 100 × 3 = 700 | 100 × 1 + 200 × 1 = 300 | 1000 |
| 24600 | 300 × 2 + 200 × 3 + 100 × 6 = 1800 | 100 × 1 = 100 | 1900 |
| 24700 | 400 × 2 + 300 × 3 + 200 × 6 + 100 × 4 = 3300 | 0 = 0 | 3300 |
The code takes the strike nearer the at-the-money strike. Here the money is at 24500, so 24500 wins. Two totals count as tied when they differ by less than 1e-6. With real Open Interest an exact tie is rare, but a near-tie is not, and that is what the next section on movement is about.
The Whole Expiry, Never the Zoom
The sum always runs over every listed strike of the expiry, even when the plane draws only 11 or 21 of them. Strikes far from the money hold little Open Interest, but a Put or Call far away can still be in the money at a candidate and add to its total, so leaving them out would give a different answer. The Strikes setting zooms the picture and nothing else.
When the Book Is Empty or Flat
- If no strike holds any Open Interest, the page falls back on the at-the-money strike for the level instead of the lowest strike of the ladder, and the plane says that settlement would cost neither side anything (The States).
- If every total is identical there is no real minimum, and the page falls back on the at-the-money strike in the same way.
- The Option Chain's own insight card is stricter: if any leg's Open Interest is missing or invalid it withholds max pain rather than count the leg as zero, and says so.
Units, Lots and Rupees
Open Interest is in units of the underlying, so the result is in rupees (points × units), printed in crore. It is not divided by the lot (65 for NIFTY at the time of writing). Two different underlyings therefore cannot be compared by their rupee totals, and the same underlying on two expiries with different Open Interest cannot either; only the strike and the shape are comparable.
The Same Sum on the Page's Board
The question Does the page really do what the toy board does, at the scale of a real expiry?
On the pictures' made-up book the expiry has 61 strikes. The page's own accessible names for the columns give the figures for the 21 drawn strikes; around the floor they read:
| Strike | Call writers pay | Put writers pay | Total | Against the floor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24400 | ₹374.2Cr | ₹993.0Cr | ₹1367.2Cr | +24.46% |
| 24450 | ₹443.3Cr | ₹758.9Cr | ₹1202.2Cr | +9.44% |
| 24500 | ₹529.1Cr | ₹572.3Cr | ₹1101.4Cr | +0.27% |
| 24550 max pain | ₹637.5Cr | ₹461.0Cr | ₹1098.5Cr | the floor |
| 24600 | ₹770.9Cr | ₹384.7Cr | ₹1155.7Cr | +5.21% |
| 24650 | ₹931.3Cr | ₹325.4Cr | ₹1256.7Cr | +14.40% |
| 24700 | ₹1123.0Cr | ₹273.9Cr | ₹1396.9Cr | +27.17% |
Two checks you can make with a calculator. First, in each row the Call and Put amounts add to the total. Second, step from 24500 to 24550: the Call amount rises and the Put amount falls, and the Put fall is bigger, so the total falls; from 24550 to 24600 the Call rise is bigger, so it rises. That is the step rule of the last section, at the scale of crores.
The insight line prints the same floor with two decimals: At 24550: CALL ₹637.49Cr + PUT ₹460.97Cr = ₹1098Cr, the lowest of 61 strikes, and the strike card prints it with none: ₹637Cr and ₹461Cr. Different roundings of one sum.
How it moves
What makes max pain change, what does not, and how does it behave towards expiry?
What Moves the Level, and What Does Not
The question When does the strike change, and why does it jump a whole strike at a time?
The level is worked again from the book at every reading. The formula never changes; only the Open Interest does. Three things follow.
- It moves when Open Interest moves. A Call or Put opened or closed anywhere in the expiry changes some of the totals, and the step rule of Part B says how. A large block at a strike changes every step that passes it.
- It moves a whole strike at a time. The candidates are the listed strikes, so the level cannot sit between them. A drift in the book shows as nothing, nothing, then one step of the strike gap (50 points on the pictures' book) when one total overtakes its neighbour.
- It does not move when you change the Window. The 15m, 30m, 1h, Day and Custom choices measure change. Max pain is not a change but a standing sum, so it is the book as it stands whatever the window. The only thing a window moves is the Max pain moved line in the insight, which compares two readings.
One Book, Two Readings
In the pictures' market the level at the latest reading, 2:20 pm, is 24550. Step the chart back in time (Customise, Chart time) and the page shows the book as of an earlier reading, as of 1:40, with its own max pain: 24500.
At the earlier reading the strike that is max pain now (24550) was only 0.04% dearer than 24500. Between the two readings a small amount of Open Interest was added and closed, and that was enough to move the floor by one strike. Both readings are honest; the second says the floor is shallow.
Max Pain Moved
The detail panel has a line for exactly this: Max pain moved = max pain now − max pain at the window's opening snapshot. On the 15-minute window it reads 0 points (24550 − 24550). Set Measured over to Day and it compares with the previous close:
Both lines are correct: over 15 minutes the level did not move; since the previous close it moved +50 points. The window decides which two readings are compared; it does not change either reading.
The Level as a Line Through the Day
The Straddle page draws max pain as a dashed amber line through the session, so the steps are visible at a glance:
That one step is the whole story of this guide in a picture: the book changes a little and the level jumps a full strike. Each point of the line is the max pain of that stored reading: the figure the reading carries, or else the sum worked from its strikes. The footer names the latest.
The Strikes Setting Changes the Picture, Not the Level
The question If I draw fewer strikes, does max pain change, and what can disappear?
Customise, Strikes offers 11, 15, 21, 31 and 41. The page opens on 21 on a desktop and 11 at 768 pixels or less. The setting chooses how many columns are drawn around the money. It does not change the sum, which always runs on the whole expiry. Three things do change.
- The columns get wider or narrower. Eleven strikes give wide columns and a short basin; forty-one give a smooth curve.
- The axis changes. The top is set from the tallest drawn column. With few strikes the largest column is near the floor, so the axis is lower and the basin looks deeper; with many strikes the far columns are tall, the axis is higher and the floor looks flatter.
- The flag and the dot can disappear. If max pain lies outside the drawn strikes there is no column to put the dot on and no place for the rule, so both are left out. The insight still names the level.
When the Level Is Off the Edge
The later expiry in the next section has its floor well below the money. Draw only 11 strikes and the amber flag and dot vanish, while the insight still states the level.
A Habit That Saves You
If the amber flag is missing, do not conclude that max pain is "not available". Check the insight's levels line, or draw more strikes. A missing mark means the strike is off the plane, not that the sum failed. (The plane itself says so when it cannot compute: The States.)
Each Expiry Has Its Own Max Pain, and the Expiry Day
The question Is max pain one number for the underlying, how does it change towards expiry, and what is different on the day?
One Number per Expiry
Max pain belongs to an expiry, not to an underlying. Each expiry has its own book of Open Interest, so its own floor, and the Reading term in the information panel (and the expiry in Customise) says which one you are looking at. In the pictures' market the 6 Oct book has its floor at 24550 and the 27 Oct book at 24100, about 400 points below the money, because the later expiry carries an older block of Calls at lower strikes. (That block is an invention of the picture, made to show that the two can differ widely.) Customise, Contract, Expiry changes the expiry; changing it resets the pinned strike and the chart time.
Towards Expiry
The formula has no clock in it. It does not weight a strike by the time left, and it does not become sharper as expiry nears. What changes with days to expiry is the book: contracts are opened, closed and rolled, and as the expiry comes near, the strikes that can still end in the money are fewer. What this guide can show is how the level behaves in pictures of a made-up market. What it cannot show is whether real prices drift towards the level near expiry; that is a claim some traders make, and no data in this guide supports or refutes it (What we have not verifiednot yet confirmed).
The Expiry Day Itself
On the day of expiry the page works exactly as on any other day. Here is the made-up market on Tuesday 6 October 2026, the expiry, at 1:40 pm, with the nearest expiry as its scope:
Four things are worth holding in mind on that day.
- It is the same sum and it can still step. A floor as shallow as the one in Part B moves by a strike on a small change. Near the close small changes can be large relative to what is left.
- It describes the book at one moment. On a day when the book changes fast, that moment is a larger share of what remains. Read the level with the time stamp beside it.
- The tie rule uses the money strike, and the money strike moves with price. If two totals are close, price crossing a strike can change which is called max pain without any change in the book.
- The sentence still holds: it is a settlement-payout reference. Whether the day's close lands near it is a question the page does not answer.
The First Half Hour
Max pain needs one reading. At 9:28 there is little history to compare with, but the level needs no comparison and can already be drawn from the book as it stands:
The level at that hour rests on the previous day's closing Open Interest and the first additions of the morning; it can still change as more of the morning's additions arrive.
Customise: Every Control That Touches Max Pain
The question Which settings change the Max pain view, and which do nothing to it?
Customise is the button at the right of the page bar. On a phone it is the settings button in the top bar. The panel has four sections; the whole panel is toured in the Open Interest guide. Here is what each does to this view.
| Control | Choices | Effect on the Max pain view |
|---|---|---|
| Contract · Expiry | The listed expiries | Changes the book, so the level. Resets the pinned strike and the chart time. |
| Time · Window | 15m, 30m, 1h, Day, Custom | None on the plane. It moves only the Max pain moved line and the other change readings in the insight. |
| Time · Chart time | Earlier and Later 5 minutes, a slider from 9:15 to the newest reading, Back to latest | Draws the book of an earlier reading, so its own level. Rewinds the insight too. Not remembered between visits. |
| Chart · Levels | On (default) or off | Draws or hides the Max pain flag and its rule. The LTP flag and the amber dot stay. |
| Chart · other switches | Move in the window on each bar; Buildup tags; Tags on the biggest movers only | None here: they apply to the Open interest and OI change views. The panel on this view shows only the Levels switch. |
| Strikes | 11, 15, 21, 31 and 41 | How many columns are drawn. Changes the axis and can drop the flag; never the level. |
| Reset | One button | Returns the switches and the strike count to their defaults; the expiry is left as it is. |
The panel closes with Escape and returns the focus to the button that opened it. The choices of view, window and chart switches are remembered in your browser; the chart time is not.
Use it well
Where else will I meet the number, how do I read it without fooling myself, and what is a sensible routine?
Where Else the Level Appears
The question Is the strike on the Option Chain the same as on the Open Interest page, and where else is it drawn?
The rule is one rule: the same sum over the same strikes, written once in the product's code and used by every screen that shows the level. On the pictures' market every screen below prints 24550. A screen can differ only if its reading of Open Interest differs (an older reading, a different expiry).
| Screen | How it is drawn | Its switch | Where the level comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Interest, Max pain view | The whole view of this guide: columns, line, dot, flag, card, insight | Levels (the Max pain flag); the view switch | Worked from the chosen reading's whole expiry |
| Option Chain | A Max Pain capsule under the strike (ATM · Max Pain when it is also the money strike, and ATM · Max Pain · Flip when the gamma flip also falls on it; the chain marks the strike nearest the flip with a Flip capsule of its own), and a hover card on the word in the Advanced chain that says whether spot is above or below it | Customise, Max pain | Worked from the chain's own Open Interest for the expiry |
| Option Chain insight | A level in the ladder, a Key levels line with its working, and a table of payouts around the level | None | Worked from the whole expiry; withheld if any leg's Open Interest is missing or invalid |
| OI Heatmap | A small Max Pain tag under a strike on the strike column | Customise, Max pain | Worked from the whole expiry's latest reading |
| PCR | A dashed amber line across the price axis, named Max pain | Customise, Max pain (under Levels) | The stored figure of the reading if it has one, else worked from every strike |
| Straddle | A dashed amber line through the session, stepping as the level steps; the footer names it | Customise, Chart, Max pain line | The stored figure of each reading if it has one, else worked from its strikes |
| Terminal widgets | A Max Pain widget (this view, pinned) and a Max pain tile in the snapshot and cockpit widgets | Widget choice | The chain's figure |
| Options Scanner | A field Max pain from spot (per cent) and a ready scan, Max pain 3% or more from spot | The scan builder | See the scanner guide |
The Option Chain
The card opens when you rest the mouse pointer on the word for about half a second, in the Advanced chain only; the Simple chain has no hover. The card now prints the same position read as the Open Interest page (Step 5): spot against max pain, in words, with no Bullish or Bearish word. When the chain has no single real max pain strike (a tie or an empty book) the card prints the level without a position.
This is the strongest check a reader can make: the Option Chain computes it on its own, from its own Open Interest, and its total at 24550 (₹1098.5Cr) is the Open Interest page's ₹1098.5Cr to the first decimal.
The Heatmap and the PCR Chart
The Words Differ, the Sum Does Not
Screens describe the level in a few short phrases. The insights on the Option Chain, Open Interest, PCR and Straddle pages, the Max pain tiles in the terminal and the help text all say the strike where the total payout to option buyers at expiry is smallest. The notes beside the level in the level lists say lowest total payout at expiry. The Open Interest chart calls the line across the tops of the bars the total payout, and its lowest point is Max pain. All three are the arithmetic of Part B read from the buyers’ side, because every rupee a buyer’s contract is worth at expiry is a rupee a writer pays. Where the Option Chain’s hover card has a position to print, it says only A level read from the book, not a prediction. Where the wording differs, trust the arithmetic. (What we have not verifiednot yet confirmed.)
A Worked Read, Start to Finish
The question Can I see the whole method on one page, with numbers, and see where to stop?
All figures below are illustrative: the made-up NIFTY book at 2:20 pm on 30 September 2026, expiry 6 October (6 days to expiry), price 24512.35.
- The level. Max pain is 24550: if the expiry ended there, the open Calls and Puts would owe ₹637.49Cr and ₹460.97Cr, ₹1098Cr in all, the least of 61 strikes.
- The gap. Price 24512.35 − 24550 = −37.65 points (−0.15%). The strike is above the price, and not by much: less than one strike step of 50 points.
- The depth. 24500 is 0.27% dearer and 24600 is 5.21% dearer. The floor is almost flat for one step to the left and sharp beyond it. A small change in the book could name 24500 instead. Treat 24500 to 24550 as one zone, not one strike.
- The walls. The put wall is 24100 and the call wall 25000; the page's possible support and resistance are 24050 and 24950. Max pain sits between them, near the money. That is a description of where the writers' obligations balance, not of where price will stop.
- The movement. Over the last 15 minutes max pain moved 0 points; since the previous close, +50 points (24500 to 24550). The book is shifting in small steps, in one direction.
- The conclusion you are allowed. "On this book the least costly settlement for the writers, as of the latest reading, is 24550, 37.65 points above the price, with 24500 almost as cheap." The page does not say who holds the contracts, and it does not say the expiry will end there.
The last step is the discipline of the whole guide: say what the number is, then stop.
Why It Is a Convention and Not a Force on Price
The question Why do traders talk about price being pulled to max pain, and what does the sum actually support?
The idea behind the name is that option writers, as a group, would prefer the expiry to end where they pay least, and that their hedging or their positioning may push price that way. The sum itself is simple arithmetic. The step from the sum to a pull on price is a story. This guide cannot confirm or refute it, because the page and the data here do not show who holds what. What can be said is what the arithmetic assumes, and what it leaves out.
| The sum assumes | What can be different |
|---|---|
| Every open contract is held to expiry. | Many contracts are closed or rolled before expiry. Open Interest changes during the day, so the book you sum is not the book that is settled. |
| Every contract is an outright position. | Spreads, straddles and hedges against futures or shares print as Calls and Puts like any other. A writer who is hedged does not mind where the expiry ends. |
| The writers are the ones who pay. | The page does not know who the sellers are, or whether a seller is a large trader or many small ones. |
| Every rupee counts alike. | A rupee owed by a large, well-capitalised seller and a rupee owed by a small one are the same in the sum, though they may not act alike. |
| Premium does not matter. | Only the value at expiry is summed. What was paid, and what was received, is left out. |
| The listed strikes are the candidates. | The settlement price need not be a listed strike. The level is a strike by construction. |
A Fair Way to Hold the Idea
Max pain is a convention: a defined number computed the same way every time, which traders use as a shared reference. A reference can be useful without being a force. The page says it plainly in its help panel: Max pain is not a price target or guarantee. Price can move away from it, and the level changes whenever the option book changes.
What Would Support a Pull, and Why It Is Not Here
To claim that price tends to end near the level, one would need many expiries of closing prices and the level at an agreed time before each, and to compare them with a fair baseline. This guide has no such study and does not rely on one. The Open Interest on the pictures' pages is invented, so no picture can say anything about real prices either.
Traps That Make Max Pain Mislead
The question What are the most common ways a reader is led wrong, and how do I avoid each?
Trap 1: The level as a target
"Max pain is 24550, so price will go there." The sum is a total of payouts, not a forecast. A level that is 37.65 points from price today can be much further away tomorrow, with no change in the formula.
Trap 2: Trusting a shallow floor
When the next strike is 0.27% dearer, the floor is one strike or the next. Quoting "24550" with no mention of 24500 says more than the book does. Read the next lowest line.
Trap 3: A missing flag read as "no level"
If the Strikes setting draws too few columns, the flag and the dot disappear (Part C). The level is still in the insight.
Trap 4: Comparing rupee totals across expiries or symbols
The total at the floor depends on how much Open Interest the book holds. Compare strikes and shapes, not rupee amounts. The axis is also set by the drawn strikes, so even two pictures of one expiry differ.
Trap 5: Reading "writers pay" as profit or loss
The amounts are values at a hypothetical settlement, before premium. They are not what anyone has made or lost, and the Call and Put colours name the side, not a direction for price.
Trap 6: Mixing the sign of the gap
The insight says price − max pain; the pinned card says strike − spot; the position read says whether spot is above or below. Equal size, opposite signs (Step 5).
Trap 7: A verdict where there is none
The page prints where spot sits against max pain (“Spot is above Max Pain” or “Spot is below Max Pain”, with the distance) and no Bullish or Bearish word. A position above or below a level is a position. Do not add a direction the page did not give; its own note reads Not a prediction.
Risk Notes
- Options can lose the whole premium, and a position that "agrees with max pain" can lose as much as any other.
- Writing options carries risk that is not capped by anything on this page. The page computes no margin, charges, taxes or the cost of getting in and out.
- Near expiry a strike's Open Interest can change within minutes, so a level seen earlier may no longer be there.
- This guide does not give trading advice, and no part of the page is an instruction to buy or sell.
Two routines you can repeat
What order do I read in on expiry day, and when I hold a position for days?
Two Routines
The question What is a steady order of reading, so I do not skip a step?
Expiry Day
- Open Open Interest on Max pain and read the Reading term in the information panel. Is the expiry the expiring one?
- Note the level, the price and the gap. Write the gap with its sign and say which way you measured it.
- Open the insight's detail and read next lowest at. Is the floor sharp or shallow?
- Step the chart time back by a few readings (Customise). Has the level moved in the last hour? Is it stepping between two strikes?
- Check the same level on the Option Chain (the capsule) and, if you use it, the Straddle line. They should agree.
- Read the time stamp beside every figure. Decide your own plan from your own risk, not from the level.
Positional
- Look at the expiry you hold, not the nearest one. Check the expiry in the information panel each time.
- Note the level and the depth of the floor once a day, at the same hour. Write them down. The page draws only the latest trading day.
- Compare the level with the walls and with support and resistance. Did they all move the same way?
- Use Max pain moved on Day to see how far the level has moved since the previous close.
- If the flag is missing, increase the strikes before concluding anything.
The States: When the Plane Is Thin, Blank or Missing
The question Something looks wrong. What is the page telling me, and what can I do?
| What you see | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict No history but the plane is drawn | No stored reading for the day is available; the plane uses the chain's own reading. Max pain needs only one reading. | Read the level, but know the change figures and Max pain moved are not measured |
| An empty plane with the sentence about settlement costing neither side anything | Every Open Interest figure in the expiry is zero. The level then falls back on the money strike, which is why a flag may still show | Do not read the flag as a level; choose another expiry |
| The plane says no strikes have been collected for this expiry | The expiry has no reading yet | Wait, or choose another expiry |
| Open interest unavailable, with a reason | The page could not read the stored readings or the chain, or found no expiry | Reload; check your connection; try another symbol |
| No amber flag, but columns drawn | Max pain is outside the drawn strikes | Draw more strikes; read the insight's levels line |
| The flag shows 24500 when you expected 24550 | You are looking at an earlier reading (the line under the plot says Chart shows) | Press Back to latest |
While the stored readings are still being fetched, the page can show the chain's own reading first, which looks like the first picture above; it fills in the history when it arrives.
Using the Max Pain View on a Phone
The question What changes on a small screen?
- At 768 pixels or less the plane opens on 11 strikes, so the columns are wide enough to tap. Raise the count in Customise if you want a wider ladder.
- A tap opens the strike card as a sheet. There is no hover card on touch.
- Both flags keep their names, and the position read stays under the plot.
- Customise is the settings button in the top bar. The view switch stays in the page bar.
- With 11 strikes the flag can fall off the plane, as in Part C. The insight has the level.
Which tool, when
Which page answers which question?
Which Tool When
The question When should I use this view, and when another page?
| Question | Use |
|---|---|
| Where would the open Call and Put positions cost their writers least at expiry? | Max pain (this view) |
| How is the rest of the Open Interest page used, and its insight? | Open Interest (guide) |
| The strike's own premium, Open Interest and the capsule | Option Chain (guide) |
| Where Open Interest is large and when it arrived | OI Heatmap (guide) |
| A ratio of Put to Call Open Interest over time | PCR (guide) |
| How max pain steps through the day beside the straddle's premium | Straddle (guide) |
| Which underlyings have max pain far from price | Options Scanner (guide) |
| The payoff of a position you are building | Strategy Builder (guide) |
Glossary
The question What does each word on the page mean?
- Open Interest
- The number of option contracts still open at a strike. Not the same as volume. On this view it is counted in units of the underlying, not lots.
- Strike
- The price at which an option can be exercised. One column of the plane.
- ATM, at the money
- The strike nearest the price. Bold in a capsule on the strike rail. It breaks ties between equal totals.
- Call
- An option that gains value when the price is above its strike at expiry.
- Put
- An option that gains value when the price is below its strike at expiry.
- Writer
- The seller of an option. In this view, Call writers and Put writers are the sellers who would owe the payouts.
- Settlement strike
- A price at which the expiry is imagined to end, tried one listed strike at a time.
- Pain, basin, floor
- Pain is the total payout at one settlement strike, in rupees. The basin is the shape of the line joining the totals. The floor is its lowest point, which is max pain.
- Max pain
- The listed strike with the lowest total payout over the whole expiry. A convention, not a forecast.
- Max pain flag
- The amber label and dashed rule above the plane, named Max pain with the strike.
- Next lowest
- The strikes whose totals come second and third. The detail panel names them; their closeness to the floor shows how flat it is.
- Put wall, Call wall
- The strike with the most Put Open Interest at or below the price, and the strike with the most Call Open Interest at or above it, over the whole expiry. Not max pain.
- Possible support, resistance
- The centres of the strongest Put and Call clusters within 12 steps of the money, snapped to a listed strike. Not max pain.
- Lakh, crore (L, Cr)
- One lakh is 100000, one crore is 10000000. The plane prints rupees in crore, and in lakh below a crore.
- Lot size
- The number of units in one contract. The page prints it as 65 per lot for NIFTY and does not divide by it.
- DTE
- Days to expiry, shown beside the expiry date.
Questions Readers Ask
The question Which short answers do readers look for most?
Is max pain the strike with the most Open Interest?
No. That is a wall. Max pain is the strike with the lowest total payout, built from Calls below it and Puts above it. In the pictures' book the call wall is 25000 and the put wall 24100, while max pain is 24550.
Does price move to max pain on expiry?
The page does not say so, and this guide cannot confirm it. Its own caution reads: Max pain is not a price target or guarantee. Price can move away from it, and the level changes whenever the option book changes.
Why does the level jump by a whole strike?
Because the candidates are the listed strikes. When one total overtakes its neighbour the level steps to it. If the floor is shallow, a small change in the book is enough.
Why does the Window setting not move it?
The Window measures change over time. Max pain is the standing book, so the plane is the same whatever the window. Only the Max pain moved line uses the window.
Why is the amber flag missing?
The strike is outside the strikes drawn, or the level marks are switched off in Customise. The insight still names the level.
Why do the card, the position read and the insight show different signs for the gap?
The pinned card measures the strike from the price (strike minus price); the position read says whether spot is above or below max pain; the insight measures the price from the strike (price minus max pain). One gap, read from two ends.
Is it in lots or in rupees?
In rupees. Open Interest is in units of the underlying, so points times units is rupees. The page does not divide by the lot size.
How current is it?
The chain is re-fetched about every 5 seconds and the stored readings are re-read about once a minute in market hours.
Does the Option Chain show the same strike?
On the same expiry and reading, yes. The chain works the sum on its own from its own Open Interest; on the pictures' book it prints 24550 and a total of ₹1098.5Cr, the same as this page.
Can I see max pain for an earlier day?
Not on this page. It draws the latest trading day, and the chart time steps back within that day.
Does the page give a Bullish or Bearish read from max pain?
No. It prints where spot sits against max pain (Spot is above Max Pain, or Spot is below Max Pain), with the distance in points, per cent and strikes away, and the note Not a prediction. It prints no Bullish or Bearish word. The verdict of the insight is decided by four other readings.
What happens if a leg has no Open Interest figure?
On the Open Interest page a missing leg counts as zero. The Option Chain insight is stricter: it withholds the level and says a leg is missing or invalid.
What We Have Not Verified
The question Which statements could this guide not confirm from the source?
These are things a careful reader may want to check for themselves. Everything else in the guide was read from the page's source code, and the pictures are of the real page.
- Whether prices tend to end near max pain on expiry. No study is cited and none is relied on; this guide makes no claim either way.
- How the exchange sets the settlement price at expiry, and whether it is always a listed strike. These are exchange rules, not stated here.
- Whether the stored max pain that the PCR and Straddle pages prefer when a reading carries one was worked by the same rule as the page's own sum. The code that stores it is not part of the page.
- How the Options Scanner works the distance of max pain from price. It is a scan field; its arithmetic was not read for this guide.
- Whether the phrase the insights and terminal tiles use, the total payout to option buyers at expiry, is meant to count every open contract in exactly the way the page's sum does. This guide treats the arithmetic of Part B as the definition.
- Lot sizes and strike spacing. These are exchange facts that change over time; the page prints 65 per lot for NIFTY and this guide states only that.
- Who holds the contracts. The page labels the two parts writers; open contracts have a buyer and a seller and the page cannot say more.
- The pictures are captures of the real page on an invented book, on invented days (30 September and 6 October 2026). Expiry dates, days to expiry and Open Interest in them are not an exchange calendar or a market reading.
Sources
The question Where in the source was each part read?
Values are as of 5 October 2026. Paths are in the project's source. Each number the guide may need to change is in scripts/guides/max-pain-parts/limits.mjs with its source line; the numbers that come from the pictures are checked by the build against figures.json.
| Part | Files |
|---|---|
| Start, Part A | src/lib/maxPain.ts, src/features/open-interest/OpenInterestPage.tsx, OpenInterestPlots.tsx (OiMaxPainPlot), oiStrikeCard.ts, openInterestInsight.ts, openInterestGuides.ts |
| Part B | src/lib/maxPain.ts (computeMaxPainProfile, maxPainStrikeFromProfile), src/services/analytics.ts (computeMaxPainStrike), openInterestModel.ts, src/features/option-chain/chainOutlook.ts |
| Part C | openInterestModel.ts, openInterestInsight.ts (Max pain moved), OiCustomizePanel.tsx, oiCustomiseSettings.ts, src/App.tsx (readings and refresh), src/lib/dwell.ts |
| Part D | src/features/option-chain/OptionChainTable.tsx, chainHover/advancedHover.ts, chainInsightModel.ts, src/features/oi-heatmap/OiHeatmapPage.tsx, src/features/pcr/pcrModel.ts, PcrLightweightChart.tsx, src/features/straddle/straddleModel.ts, StraddleChart.tsx, src/features/terminal/widgetCatalog.ts, src/features/options-scanner/prebuiltScans.ts |
| Mock and pictures | scripts/guides/max-pain-mock.cjs, scripts/guides/shot-max-pain.cjs, scripts/guides/max-pain-parts/figures.json (what the pages printed), nums.mjs (the build checks) |
Related: Open Interest guide, Option Chain guide, OI Heatmap guide, PCR guide, Straddle guide.
Test Your Knowledge
Check the mechanics before you take them to a live chain.
1. The page prints "At 24550: CALL ₹637.49Cr + PUT ₹460.97Cr = ₹1098Cr, the lowest of 61 strikes". What does 24550 stand for?
2. Which of these changes the max pain level itself?
3. On the five-strike board of the worked example, which strike is max pain?
4. Two strikes have exactly the same total. Which does the page call max pain?
5. The pinned card says "38 pts / 0.15% above spot", the position read says "Spot is below Max Pain" and the insight says "Price against max pain −37.65 pts". Why do they read differently?
6. You draw 11 strikes and the amber Max pain flag is gone. What is the most likely reason?
7. Does the page print a Bullish or Bearish read from max pain?
About the Sahi Open Interest
Max pain is the strike at which the open Call and Put contracts of an expiry would be worth the least in total if the expiry ended there. It is worked from the Open Interest at every strike of the expiry, and the lowest total is marked.
The Max pain view draws that total at each strike, so you can see whether the lowest point is a sharp floor or a shallow one and how far it is from price, and a plain line says whether spot is above or below the level. It describes the option book as it stands. It is a reference, not a forecast.
At a glance
- Data
- Sahi market data for NSE and BSE options
- Updates
- Option chain re-fetched about every 5 seconds in market hours
- Coverage
- 217 NSE and BSE index and stock F&O underlyings
- Access
- Free — no login, no download
- Orders
- Analysis only. Sahi does not accept orders
See it on today's numbers
Everything above is method. These articles apply it to a live book — max pain among the rest — and are rebuilt as the snapshot data refreshes. Where a symbol's option book is too thin to support a reading, the article says so rather than asserting a level.
Frequently asked questions
What is max pain in options?
Max Pain is the strike where the total payout to option buyers at expiry is smallest. It is worked from the Open Interest at every strike of the expiry. It is a level read from the book, not a prediction of where price will settle.
Does price always move to max pain on expiry?
No. Max pain is arithmetic on the contracts that are open now, not a prediction of where price must settle. The page itself says it is not a price target or guarantee, and price can move away from it. Whether prices tend to end near it is not something the page tests.
Does the page say whether spot is above or below max pain?
Yes, in words. The Max pain view prints "Spot is above Max Pain" or "Spot is below Max Pain", with the distance in points, in per cent and in strikes away, and the note "A level read from the book, not a prediction". It prints no Bullish or Bearish word. The line is left out when two strikes tie for the lowest total or the chain holds no Open Interest, because there is then no single level to read.
How does the pain profile add to the max pain number?
The profile shows the shape around the lowest point, which the single number hides. If the neighbouring strikes are almost as cheap, the floor is shallow and one strike or the next could be called max pain after a small change in the book. If they are much dearer, the floor is sharper.
How often does the max pain strike change?
It is worked again for every reading from the Open Interest of the whole expiry, so it changes whenever the book changes enough for one strike's total to overtake its neighbour's, and it moves a whole strike at a time.
Does high open interest at a strike act as support or resistance?
High open interest marks where positioning is concentrated, and those strikes often behave as reference levels — heavy call open interest above spot is commonly read as resistance and heavy put open interest below spot as support. This is a crowding observation, not a rule. Levels can and do break, usually when that open interest unwinds quickly.
Read next
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