Expiry brief · Thursday, 29 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 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00 | 🇺🇸 | high | FOMC Press Conference | |
| 18:00 | 🇺🇸 | high | Advance GDP q/q | 3.2% |
| 18:00 | 🇺🇸 | high | Core PCE Price Index m/m | 0.3% |
| 18:00 | 🇺🇸 | medium | Advance GDP Price Index q/q | 3.2% |
| 18:00 | 🇺🇸 | medium | Unemployment Claims | 198K |
| 18:45 | 🇪🇺 | high | Main Refinancing Rate | 2.65% |
| 18:45 | 🇪🇺 | high | Monetary Policy Statement | |
| 19:15 | 🇪🇺 | high | ECB Press Conference |
Full week on the economic calendar →
At the open · 09:20 IST
Taken 09:20 IST · LIVE
NIFTY is at 22,726.90, +0.12% on the day. The 22750 straddle for the 03 Nov expiry costs ₹338.30 (153.15 call + 185.15 put), which is the market pricing a one-standard-deviation move of about ±338 points, ±1.49%, over the 5.3 days to expiry. Read that as the expected range: 22,389 to 23,065. Roughly two expiries in three should finish inside it; the third is where the money is made and lost.
India VIX at 16.26 is elevated: the market is paying up for protection, which is the environment in which defined-risk premium selling is best paid — and in which naked selling gets hurt. Skew is steep (+2.9 IV points, puts over calls two strikes out): the crowd is paying for downside, so put spreads are richer to sell than call spreads.
Priced off this chain, an iron condor collects ₹4,722 a lot with a maximum loss of ₹1,778 and breakevens at 22,577 / 22,923. The short strangle underneath it collects ₹16,149 — ₹11,427 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 ₹21,990 a lot and needs NIFTY beyond 22,412 or 23,088 at expiry to pay. It bleeds about ₹2,088 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 22,700, the floor.
Elsewhere: BANKNIFTY 54,287 with a straddle of ₹1,846 (±3.40%, expiry 23 Nov); SENSEX 73,393 with a straddle of ₹501 (±0.68%, expiry 29 Oct).
Strategies priced off this chain · NIFTY · lot 65
| Structure · legs (per share) | Net / lot | Max profit | Max loss | Breakevens |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iron condor −1 22650 PE @ 139.95 · +1 22550 PE @ 102.25 · −1 22850 CE @ 108.50 · +1 22950 CE @ 73.55 | credit ₹4,722 | ₹4,722 | ₹1,778 | 22,577 / 22,923 |
| Short strangle −1 22850 CE @ 108.50 · −1 22650 PE @ 139.95 | credit ₹16,149 | ₹16,149 | unlimited | 22,402 / 23,098 |
| Long straddle +1 22750 CE @ 153.15 · +1 22750 PE @ 185.15 | debit ₹21,990 | unlimited | ₹21,990 | 22,412 / 23,088 |
| Bull call spread +1 22750 CE @ 153.15 · −1 22850 CE @ 108.50 | debit ₹2,902 | ₹3,598 | ₹2,902 | 22,795 |
Re-price any of these live in the builder →
BANKNIFTY and SENSEX
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.