Option basics · Lesson 07 of 9 · Concept
How to read an option chain
An option chain lists every strike for one expiry with calls on one side and puts on the other. The columns record price and positioning separately: last traded price is what one contract cost, volume is how many changed hands, and open interest is how many remain outstanding.
NSE option chain structure · MarketCue one-minute capture of the NIFTY chain
Build it
A chain that actually traded, priced at the open. Click once to buy, twice to sell, a third time to clear.
Prices captured at the open on Tuesday, 22 September 2026. NIFTY spot at the open: 23,460. The highlighted row is nearest the money.
Build a position and this fills in with what it settled at.
The layout is not arbitrary
Strikes run down the centre, ascending. Calls occupy one side and puts the other, so the two contracts at a given strike sit on the same row and can be compared without scanning. Near the current level the calls on one side and the puts on the other are the contracts most of the day's activity passes through.
The chain above is a real one, captured at the open of 22 September 2026. Reading across a single row gives both halves of that strike: at 23,450 the call opened at ₹64.50 and the put at ₹34.85, with NIFTY at 23,460.
Price columns and position columns count different things
Last traded price records what the most recent contract changed hands for. Volume counts contracts traded during the session, and resets each day. Open interest counts contracts still outstanding, and carries over — it rises when a new position is opened and falls when one is closed.
The distinction matters because volume and open interest can move independently. Heavy volume against flat open interest is contracts changing hands between participants rather than new positions being created. What open interest does and does not record is the subject of the Positioning topic.
Common questions
How do you read an option chain?
Strikes run down the middle with calls on one side and puts on the other, so both contracts at a strike share a row. Price columns record what contracts traded at; open interest records how many positions remain outstanding.
What is the difference between volume and open interest?
Volume counts contracts traded during the session and resets daily. Open interest counts contracts still outstanding and carries over between sessions, rising as positions are opened and falling as they are closed.
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Written and maintained by MarketCue research
How these figures are produced
Every price on these pages was traded on the exchange and is read from our own option-chain capture, which records the NIFTY and SENSEX chains once a minute through the session. Each page names the session its figures come from.
Figures that a model produced rather than the market — the Greeks, implied volatility — are labelled as model outputs wherever they appear, and never presented beside traded prices without saying which is which. The pricing is checked against published reference values on every change.
Where our own data cannot support a claim, the page says so instead of generalising. MarketCue is not a registered investment adviser, research analyst or broker under SEBI regulations.