Expiry brief · Wednesday, 04 November 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 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 03:15 | 🇳🇿 | high | Employment Change q/q | 0.4% |
| 03:15 | 🇳🇿 | high | Unemployment Rate | 5.5% |
| 10:30 | 🇮🇳 | medium | Services PMI | |
| 20:30 | 🇺🇸 | medium | ISM Services PMI | 54.8 |
Full week on the economic calendar →
At the open · 09:20 IST
Taken 09:20 IST · LIVE
NIFTY is at 23,880.40, +0.29% on the day. The 23900 straddle for the 09 Nov expiry costs ₹385.25 (173.60 call + 211.65 put), which is the market pricing a one-standard-deviation move of about ±385 points, ±1.61%, over the 5.3 days to expiry. Read that as the expected range: 23,495 to 24,266. Roughly two expiries in three should finish inside it; the third is where the money is made and lost.
India VIX at 15.98 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 steep (+3.3 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 ₹4,790 a lot with a maximum loss of ₹1,710 and breakevens at 23,726 / 24,074. The short strangle underneath it collects ₹19,198 — ₹14,408 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 ₹25,041 a lot and needs NIFTY beyond 23,515 or 24,285 at expiry to pay. It bleeds about ₹2,380 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 24,000 — the strike writers are defending as resistance; the largest put open interest below sits at 23,600, the floor.
Elsewhere: BANKNIFTY 55,711 with a straddle of ₹1,523 (±2.73%, expiry 23 Nov); SENSEX 77,192 with a straddle of ₹803 (±1.04%, expiry 05 Nov).
Strategies priced off this chain · NIFTY · lot 65
| Structure · legs (per share) | Net / lot | Max profit | Max loss | Breakevens |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iron condor −1 23800 PE @ 164.60 · +1 23700 PE @ 125.30 · −1 24000 CE @ 130.75 · +1 24100 CE @ 96.35 | credit ₹4,790 | ₹4,790 | ₹1,710 | 23,726 / 24,074 |
| Short strangle −1 24000 CE @ 130.75 · −1 23800 PE @ 164.60 | credit ₹19,198 | ₹19,198 | unlimited | 23,505 / 24,295 |
| Long straddle +1 23900 CE @ 173.60 · +1 23900 PE @ 211.65 | debit ₹25,041 | unlimited | ₹25,041 | 23,515 / 24,285 |
| Bull call spread +1 23900 CE @ 173.60 · −1 24000 CE @ 130.75 | debit ₹2,785 | ₹3,715 | ₹2,785 | 23,943 |
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.