What is MWPL and When Does a Stock Go into the F&O Ban?
MWPL means market wide position limit. It is the ceiling on how much open interest the whole market can build in the futures and options of one stock. Cross 95% of it and the stock enters the F&O ban. This page explains the rules that apply from 1 October 2025, with a calculator and worked examples.
Exchanges publish the real MWPL and open interest numbers. This calculator only applies the published rules to numbers you type in.
MWPL in one line
Every stock with derivatives has its own MWPL. It caps the total open position that all traders together can hold in that stock's futures and options. The limit exists so that derivative positions do not grow too large compared with the shares that actually trade, which would make the stock easier to push around and harder to settle.
How MWPL is set from 1 October 2025
SEBI changed the method in its circular of 29 May 2025, and NSE Clearing set out the details in circular 119/2025 dated 8 September 2025. For each stock:
MWPL = the lower of 15% of free float and 65 × average daily delivery value (in quantity), with a floor of 10% of free float.
Free float is the shares available for trading, leaving out promoter and locked-in holdings.
Average daily delivery value (ADDV) is taken over the previous three months and turned into a number of shares for the formula.
It is reset every quarter. For the limits that started on 1 October 2025, the data came from 16 June to 15 September 2025. Each new MWPL applies for the next three calendar months and is published by the 20th of the last month of the reference quarter.
| Example | 15% of free float | 65 × ADDV | 10% floor | MWPL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free float 20,000 lakh, ADDV limb 2,600 lakh | 3,000 | 2,600 | 2,000 | 2,600 lakh |
| Free float 20,000 lakh, ADDV limb 1,400 lakh | 3,000 | 1,400 | 2,000 | 2,000 lakh (floor) |
| Free float 12,500 lakh, ADDV limb 3,500 lakh | 1,875 | 3,500 | 1,250 | 1,875 lakh |
Sample numbers to show the formula, not real stocks.
When a stock enters the F&O ban, and when it leaves
| Step | Rule |
|---|---|
| Enters the ban | Market-wide futures equivalent open interest at the end of the day is above 95% of MWPL. The ban starts from the next trading day. |
| Stays in the ban | Until open interest comes down far enough. Falling to 90% or 85% does not end it. |
| Leaves the ban | Combined futures equivalent open interest across all exchanges is at or below 80% of MWPL. Normal trading resumes after that. |
The gap between 95% and 80% is deliberate. Without it, a stock sitting near the limit could go in and out of the ban every other day.
NSE publishes the list of securities in the ban period every day, and most broker apps flag them on the order screen.
Futures equivalent open interest, not gross
Before October 2025 the ban looked at gross open interest. That has been dropped. The test now uses futures equivalent (FutEq) open interest, where each option counts by its delta. One lot of futures counts as one lot. A deep in-the-money option with delta 0.9 counts as 0.9 of a lot, and a far out-of-the-money option with delta 0.05 barely counts at all.
This matters because far out-of-the-money options used to swell open interest and push stocks into the ban even though they carried little real exposure.
What you can and cannot do during a ban
While a stock is in the ban, your own futures equivalent position in it must not increase, and its sign must not change. The check uses the delta from the 2 pm SPAN file. Reducing or closing the position is allowed, and trading the shares in the cash market goes on as usual.
| Your FutEq position | What happened | Violation |
|---|---|---|
| −10 → −6 | Short position reduced | None |
| −10 → −12 | Short position grew by 2 | 2 |
| −10 → +2 | Flipped from short to long | 2 |
| −10 → +10 | Flipped from short to long | 10 |
When the sign flips, the whole new position on the other side is the violation. One thing catches option sellers out: because the test is delta based, a short option position can grow in futures terms when the market moves and delta changes. Watch your position in a banned stock even if you have not placed a new order.
The penalty
A violation costs 1% of its value, with a minimum of ₹5,000 and a maximum of ₹1,00,000, per entity, per stock, per day. A violation worth ₹1,50,000 works out to ₹1,500 at 1%, so the ₹5,000 minimum applies. A violation worth ₹2 crore works out to ₹2,00,000, so it is capped at ₹1,00,000 for that day.
Test yourself on MWPL, the ban, the Greeks and option strategies. 1,000 questions, picked at random, answers hidden until you check.
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What is MWPL in the share market?
MWPL is the market wide position limit: the largest total open interest the whole market can hold in the futures and options of one stock. When open interest gets too close to it, the stock goes into the F&O ban and nobody can add fresh positions.
How is MWPL calculated from October 2025?
It is the lower of 15% of the stock's free float and 65 times its average daily delivery value (taken in quantity), but never below 10% of free float. It is recalculated every quarter from the previous three months of data.
When does a stock go into the F&O ban?
When its market-wide futures equivalent open interest at the end of a day is above 95% of MWPL. The ban applies from the next trading day.
When does the F&O ban end?
Only when the combined futures equivalent open interest across exchanges falls to 80% of MWPL or lower. Dropping to 90% is not enough.
Can I trade a stock that is in the F&O ban?
You can reduce or close your existing derivative position. You cannot increase your futures equivalent position, and you cannot flip it from long to short or short to long. Buying and selling the shares in the cash market carries on as normal.
What is the penalty for adding to a banned stock?
Under NSE Clearing's rules from October 2025 it is 1% of the value of the violation, with a minimum of ₹5,000 and a maximum of ₹1,00,000, per entity, per stock, per day.
What is futures equivalent open interest?
Open interest where each option counts by its delta. A future counts fully, a deep in-the-money option counts almost fully and a far out-of-the-money option counts very little. It replaced gross open interest for the ban from October 2025.