Expiry brief · Tuesday, 20 October 2026
What the NIFTY option chain is pricing today, in numbers a trader can act on: the straddle as the expected move, volatility, skew, and four structures priced live. Written by the server at fixed times, every trading day.
Scheduled today
| IST | RELEASE | ACTUAL / FCST | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09:15 | 🇮🇳 | holiday | NSE closed: Dussehra |
Full week on the economic calendar →
At the open · 09:20 IST
Taken 09:20 IST · LIVE
NIFTY is at 22,888.95, -1.11% on the day. The 22900 straddle for the 27 Oct expiry costs ₹342.40 (169.90 call + 172.50 put), which is the market pricing a one-standard-deviation move of about ±342 points, ±1.50%, over the 7.3 days to expiry. Read that as the expected range: 22,547 to 23,231. Roughly two expiries in three should finish inside it; the third is where the money is made and lost.
India VIX at 14.77 is in its ordinary range: premium is fairly priced, and the edge comes from structure and sizing rather than from volatility being mispriced. Skew is mild (+1.7 IV points): neither side of the chain is paying up, so structures can be built symmetric around spot.
Priced off this chain, an iron condor collects ₹4,586 a lot with a maximum loss of ₹1,914 and breakevens at 22,730 / 23,070. The short strangle underneath it collects ₹16,221 — ₹11,635 more — for a loss that has no ceiling. That difference is the price of sleeping through a gap; decide whether it is worth paying before the market decides for you.
On the other side, the long straddle costs ₹22,256 a lot and needs NIFTY beyond 22,558 or 23,242 at expiry to pay. It bleeds about ₹1,538 a day in time value right now. Buy it only if you expect the market to move more than it is charging for — and know why.
Open interest across the loaded strikes: the largest call open interest above spot sits at 23,000 — the strike writers are defending as resistance; the largest put open interest below sits at 22,500, the floor.
Strategies priced off this chain · NIFTY · lot 65
| Structure · legs (per share) | Net / lot | Max profit | Max loss | Breakevens |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iron condor −1 22800 PE @ 127.45 · +1 22700 PE @ 92.00 · −1 23000 CE @ 122.10 · +1 23100 CE @ 87.00 | credit ₹4,586 | ₹4,586 | ₹1,914 | 22,730 / 23,070 |
| Short strangle −1 23000 CE @ 122.10 · −1 22800 PE @ 127.45 | credit ₹16,221 | ₹16,221 | unlimited | 22,550 / 23,250 |
| Long straddle +1 22900 CE @ 169.90 · +1 22900 PE @ 172.50 | debit ₹22,256 | unlimited | ₹22,256 | 22,558 / 23,242 |
| Bull call spread +1 22900 CE @ 169.90 · −1 23000 CE @ 122.10 | debit ₹3,107 | ₹3,393 | ₹3,107 | 22,948 |
Re-price any of these live in the builder →
Why the straddle is the expected move — Finch, chapter 6 →
The expiry brief is generated by Finostat's server from its live option chains at fixed times and written up from templates; it is education and market description, not a recommendation. Prices are indicative and can be stale. Derivatives can lose more than you put in. Finostat is not a SEBI-registered adviser.