NIFTY 50 Max Pain Today
What is NIFTY Max Pain?
Max Pain theory states NIFTY 50 gravitates toward the strike where option writers face minimum collective loss at expiry. Today that strike is 24,200. Spot at 24,078 is near max pain — expiry magnetic pull is active.
Max Pain Level
The “max pain” strike for NIFTY 50 sits at ₹24,200. This is the level where option writers collectively suffer the smallest aggregate loss, acting as a magnet that frequently draws the underlying index toward it as expiry approaches.
Spot vs Max Pain Gap
The spot price of ₹24,078.3 sits just 0.5 % below the max‑pain strike, indicating a modest upside bias. With the index trailing the pain point, any upward momentum could be a pull‑back toward the ₹24,200 zone, especially if sellers intensify hedging activity.
Shift Signal
There is no shift in the max‑pain level compared with the previous day, implying that option writers have largely maintained their current positioning. The static strike suggests that the open‑interest distribution across strikes remains balanced, and no new pressure is being placed on the market to move the price away from the current magnet.
Expiry Context
Max pain emerges from the sum of open‑interest in calls and puts; the strike where writers’ combined payouts are minimized tends to attract the spot as expiry nears. During the final week of an expiry cycle, it’s common to see the index gravitate toward this level, though the effect is probabilistic—not deterministic—as broader market forces can override the pull.
Data Note
The spot sits roughly ₹122 below the max‑pain strike, with six trading days remaining until the August 25 expiry.
Data as of 2026-08-19