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Index options, decoded.

Market closedShowing the last close - EOD 11 Sept; live during market hoursupdated 17:06
NIFTY
23,398.1
▼ -0.34%
India VIXThe market's expected swing in the Nifty over the next 30 days, priced from its options. Higher means more uncertainty priced in and costlier options. It says how much, not which way.
12.27
▲ +4.00%
Next NIFTY expiryThe day the nearest NIFTY option contracts settle. Option prices lose value fastest in the last few days before it, so readings like PCR and max pain matter most close to this date.
Tue, 15 Sept
1 day left
Index options board
One tile per index. 'Expected move' is how far the options market is pricing the index to swing by expiry; PCR and max pain show how the option crowd is positioned.
EOD 11 Sept

Tap an index to load it in the deep-dive cards below.

NIFTY open interest profile
The number of option contracts currently open at a strike. Large call OI above spot often acts as resistance (call writers defend it); large put OI below spot often acts as support. Where OI clusters tells you the strikes the market cares about. Switch to "Today's volume" to see where today's trading happened instead: open interest is where positions sit, volume is what changed hands. The row marked ATM is the strike nearest the index; MP is max pain.
EOD 11 Sept · Tue, 15 Sept
◄ Call OI · resistancestrikesupport · Put OI ►
23,800
23,750
23,700
23,650
23,600
23,550
23,500
23,450MP
23,400ATM
23,350
23,300
23,250
23,200
23,150
23,100
23,050
23,000
Call OI (sellers defend above) Put OI (sellers defend below)spot 23,398MP max pain 23,450

Big put walls below the spot act like support, big call walls above act like resistance - that is where option sellers have the most money committed.

NIFTY put-call ratio
Total put open interest ÷ total call open interest across the chain. It shows how the crowd is positioned. Scale: <0.7 call-heavy (bullish/over-bullish), ~0.7-1.3 balanced, >1.3 put-heavy (bearish or oversold). Extremes on either side are often read as contrarian signals.
EOD 11 Sept
1.06Mildly bearish
0.4 call-heavyput-heavy 1.6

Slightly more puts than calls. Balanced-to-bearish.

Call OI
17.0 Cr
Put OI
17.9 Cr
Higher than 73% of the last 248 sessionsA PCR of 1.06 means little on its own: every index has its own normal level. This places today's reading among NIFTY's daily end-of-day PCRs over the last 248 sessions. The line is that history, the dashed mark is today. Thin sessions with very little open interest are left out because they swing wildly.
low 0.43median 0.88high 1.74
NIFTY expected move
The ATM call + put price (the straddle) is what traders pay for a move in EITHER direction - the market's own forecast of the range by expiry.
EOD 11 Sept
±209pts (±0.89%)
by Tue, 15 Sept · 1 day left
23,19023,39823,607

The ATM straddle (call + put at the money) is the market's own price for how far NIFTY moves by expiry - a one standard-deviation-style range, not a guarantee.

Held in 38 of 52 expiries over the last year (73%)A check on the forecast above. For each past expiry we took the at-the-money straddle price the same number of days before expiry as today, and asked whether the index settled inside that range. Green bars held, red bars broke. It is a record of the past, not a promise for this expiry.

Each past expiry priced 1 day before it, as today. Held means the index settled inside the straddle's range. Last 8, oldest first.

NIFTY - where writers are active
Option sellers (writers) commit real margin. The strikes where they add the most contracts show the levels they are betting the market will not cross.
EOD 11 Sept
Call writers (cap above)
23,800
+20.6 L
23,300
+18.5 L
23,350
+14.6 L
23,250
+12.1 L
Put writers (floor below)
23,300
+75.6 L
23,250
+61.8 L
22,000
+50.2 L
21,700
+44.0 L

The strikes where sellers added the most contracts today. Heavy call writing marks a level the market is not expected to cross; heavy put writing marks a level it is expected to hold.

Max pain vs spot
The strike where the largest number of option buyers would lose money at expiry - i.e. where total option-holder pain is greatest. Markets often gravitate toward this level into expiry because option writers (who profit there) are the bigger players. Treat it as a magnet, not a guarantee.
EOD 11 Sept
NIFTY
+0.22%
BANKNIFTY
+1.58%
FINNIFTY
+1.78%
MIDCPNIFTY
+0.45%
NIFTYNXT50
+1.27%

How far each index's max pain sits from its spot. Right/green = above spot (a pull upward into expiry, in theory), left/red = below.

NIFTY volatility skew
Implied volatility is the price of an option expressed as expected movement. Comparing a put and a call the same distance from the money shows which side the market is paying more to protect.
EOD 11 Sept
+0.40IV points, puts over calls
Put 23,200
11.1%
At the money
10.7%
Call 23,600
10.7%
Puts, lower strikesCalls, higher strikes

Puts and calls are priced about the same - no strong lean either way. Measured at the strikes one expected move either side of the money; only strikes that actually traded count.

NIFTY futures build-up
The futures price move read against the change in open interest. Rising price with rising positions is fresh buying; falling price with rising positions is fresh selling; the other two are positions being closed.
EOD 11 Sept
Short covering
11 Sept: price +0.01%, open interest -2.16%
10 SeptLong unwinding
9 SeptShort build-up
8 SeptShort build-up
7 SeptShort build-up
4 SeptShort covering

Short covering: price up with open interest falling - sellers closing out. Read from the 29 Sept futures contract, one contract throughout so a roll never looks like positions vanishing. End of day.

NIFTY IV across expiries
How much movement the market is pricing for each upcoming expiry. Normally later expiries cost a little more per day; a near expiry priced far above them means an event is expected.
EOD 11 Sept
15 Sept
10.7%
22 Sept
11.5%
29 Sept
11.3%
6 Oct
11.3%
13 Oct
11.4%

The near and later expiries are priced about the same. At-the-money implied volatility per expiry, traded expiries only, as of 11 Sept.

NIFTY cost to trade
The bid-ask spread: the gap between the best price someone will buy at and the best price someone will sell at. It is a real cost on every trade, separate from brokerage and taxes.
market closed

Bid and offer prices come from the live order book, so this fills in during market hours, 9:15 AM to 3:30 PM IST.

India VIX
Expected 30-day volatility priced into NIFTY options - the 'fear gauge'. High VIX = expensive options (sellers' market), low VIX = cheap options.
last close
12.27▲ +4.00%
Calm
8 calmfear 30
IV pulse - 52-week context
Where each index's option IV sits inside its own 1-year range. Rank near 0 = options historically cheap; near 100 = historically expensive.
EOD 11 Sept
NIFTYIV 13.2% · rank 10
BANKNIFTYIV 16.3% · rank 16
FINNIFTYIV 18.7% · rank 33
MIDCPNIFTYIV 19.3% · rank 22
NIFTYNXT50IV 20.6% · rank 48

Low rank favors buying options (debit trades); high rank favors selling premium (credit trades).

Futures premium / discount
The front-month future minus the spot index. A premium means traders pay up to be long (mild optimism); a discount signals caution.
EOD 11 Sept
NIFTY+87.1 pts (+0.37%)
BANKNIFTY+262.7 pts (+0.46%)
FINNIFTY+120.5 pts (+0.47%)
MIDCPNIFTY+56.6 pts (+0.39%)
NIFTYNXT50+348.3 pts (+0.48%)

Premium = mild bullish carry, discount = hedging/caution. Extremes often appear near turns.

Rollover watch
How much of each index's futures open interest has already moved from the near-month contract to the next one. The sparkline tracks the last ~12 trading sessions; the % is next-month OI as a share of near + next-month OI. Built purely from open interest - no live exchange call needed - and it naturally builds up through the week before expiry.
EOD 11 Sept
Index~12-session trendRolledTo expiry
NIFTY
15%15 days left
BANKNIFTY
11%15 days left
FINNIFTY
0%15 days left
MIDCPNIFTY
5%15 days left
NIFTYNXT50
4%15 days left

The share of combined near + next-month futures open interest that has already shifted to the next contract. This climbs toward expiry as traders carry positions forward instead of squaring off - a read on conviction behind the current trend, not a buy/sell signal on its own.

OI spurts - where positions are building
F&O underlyings (indices AND stocks) with the biggest jump in open interest - fresh money taking positions today. Open-interest change is measured against the PREVIOUS trading session's close.
EOD 11 Sept
UnderlyingOI changeOpen interestChg (OI)
NIFTY
68.1 Cr+12.6%
NIFTYNXT50
26,050+9.1%
BANKNIFTY
3.7 Cr+6.2%
MIDCPNIFTY
1.4 Cr+4.9%
FINNIFTY
9.5 L+1.6%

OI change vs the previous session. Rising OI with rising price = longs building; with falling price = shorts building.

Most active contracts
The single option/futures contracts with the highest traded volume - where intraday traders are concentrated right now. Rows are tinted green/red by the contract's price move today.
EOD 11 Sept
TypeContractLTPChg %
PENIFTY 23300 PE 15 Sep51.1 +0.20%
CENIFTY 23500 CE 15 Sep72.75 -5.52%
CENIFTY 23400 CE 15 Sep127.8 +1.55%
CENIFTY 23300 CE 15 Sep198.4 +3.39%
PENIFTY 23200 PE 15 Sep32.55 +8.32%
PENIFTY 23250 PE 15 Sep41 +4.33%
CENIFTY 23350 CE 15 Sep161.9 +3.48%
PENIFTY 23400 PE 15 Sep80.7 -4.16%
PENIFTY 23350 PE 15 Sep64.35 -3.01%
CENIFTY 23450 CE 15 Sep98.65 -1.00%
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All chain data is end-of-day as of 11 Sept; it turns live automatically during market hours (Mon-Fri 9:15-15:30 IST). Analysis only, not investment advice.