What Is the NIFTY Option Chain?
The NIFTY option chain is a table of all available call and put option contracts for the NIFTY 50 index, organised by strike price and expiry. Each row shows OI, volume, IV, Greeks and premium for both sides at that strike. It is the most-tracked option chain in India and one of the most liquid derivatives markets in the world by volume.
Reading the NIFTY option chain correctly gives you a real-time view of where institutional and retail traders are placing their bets — which strikes are acting as support, which are capping upside, and what direction the smart money is leaning for the current expiry cycle. The charts above make this immediately visual.
How to Read the NIFTY Option Chain Step by Step
Step 1 — Identify the ATM strike. The at-the-money strike is the one closest to the current NIFTY spot price. Everything above is your call side (resistance zone), everything below is your put side (support zone). The OI chart above marks the ATM in yellow automatically.
Step 2 — Find the heaviest call OI above ATM. The strike with the largest call open interest above the current price is the strongest resistance. If NIFTY is at 24,200 and the 24,500 CE has massive OI, the market is capping upside there for this expiry.
Step 3 — Find the heaviest put OI below ATM. The strike with the largest put open interest below current price is the strongest support. Heavy put writing at 24,000 means put sellers expect NIFTY to stay above that level.
Step 4 — Track OI change, not just total OI. Fresh OI addition at a strike is far more meaningful than existing OI. New call writing = new resistance being built. New put writing = new support. TradePulse tracks this in real time throughout the session.
Step 5 — Monitor PCR trend. Divide total put OI by total call OI. A rising PCR means more put writing — bullish. A falling PCR signals increasing call writing pressure. Watch the PCR trend chart above for direction, not just the current number.
Step 6 — Use max pain as your expiry target. NIFTY prices tend to gravitate toward the max pain strike in the final 1–2 hours of Thursday's weekly expiry session. When spot is far from max pain, watch for it to close the gap.
Step 7 — Read the IV smile for fear and positioning. The IV chart above shows how implied volatility varies across strikes. A steep put skew (OTM puts much more expensive than OTM calls) means institutional hedging of downside risk is active — the market is pricing in fear of a fall.
TradePulse Analytics on Top of Raw NIFTY Data
The NSE website publishes raw NIFTY option chain tables. TradePulse converts that data into the visual analytics, commentary and anomaly signals you see on this page. The platform provides:
Live OI Heatmap
The call vs put OI bar chart is updated throughout the session. It instantly shows where the heaviest OI concentration sits — and highlights unusual build-up at strikes before price reflects it.
PCR Trend Line
TradePulse tracks PCR movement across the full session. A rising PCR trend is more valuable than a high absolute PCR — it shows momentum in institutional put writing which is directionally bullish.
Max Pain Tracker
Max pain shifts as new contracts are written. TradePulse alerts you when NIFTY spot has diverged significantly from max pain — that divergence typically closes before expiry, creating a tradeable setup.
AI Market Commentary
TradePulse's AI synthesises all option chain data — OI structure, PCR trend, IV regime, smart money bias — into plain-language commentary that updates continuously during market hours. No manual interpretation needed.
Anomaly Detection
TradePulse scores unusual activity in NIFTY option chain — abnormal OI changes at specific strikes, unusual call/put ratio shifts, significant far-OTM volume. Scores above 80% flag significant market anomalies that often precede large moves.
AI Directional Signal
LSTM and Prophet ML models combine OI structure, PCR trend, max pain deviation and IV regime into a single directional signal with confidence score — the final output layer on top of option chain analytics.
NIFTY Weekly vs Monthly Option Chain
NIFTY options expire every Thursday (weekly) and on the last Thursday of each month (monthly). Weekly chains have OI concentrated near ATM and decay very fast. Monthly chains carry longer positioning and are more useful for identifying larger structural support and resistance levels.
For intraday traders, the weekly NIFTY option chain is most relevant — it shows where the market expects NIFTY to close by Thursday. For swing traders, the monthly chain's OI structure gives a cleaner read of broader institutional consensus. TradePulse tracks both simultaneously.
NIFTY vs BANKNIFTY vs SENSEX Option Chain
NIFTY represents the broad market — 50 large-cap stocks across sectors. The BANKNIFTY option chain is more volatile (1.5–2x the intraday moves) and more sensitive to RBI policy and banking sector news. The SENSEX option chain on BSE has surged in activity recently and is increasingly traded by institutional players — it often moves differently from NIFTY given the different index composition.
Tracking all three simultaneously — as TradePulse allows — reveals divergences that are themselves strong signals. When NIFTY is bullish but BANKNIFTY is under pressure from banking-specific selling, that divergence tells you something important about what's driving the market.