UNDERSTANDING THE OPTIONS CHAIN DATA CORRECTLY
Forget what you know already about the market and the Option Chains data. The Future and Options are traded in the
Secondarymarket. So the primary market is Equities. So without equities (cash market), Futures and Options do not exist. So for
those who aretrading purely in F&O, Look at the Futures and Options as some way to protect your Stocks (Cash).
For the F&O market to exist, we need the Market Makers. And Market makers are also here to make some money.
Now going to Options Chain data. Let us take the Options Chain of NIFTY. Hope there are so many links for getting the
OptionsChain data. But I use the following link
http://www.nseindia.com/live_market/dynaContent/live_watch/option_chain/optionKeys.jsp?symbol=" & NSECode & "&date="
&ExpiryDateFor example to get the NIFTY Options data for the month expiring Jul-15, the link would be
http://www.nseindia.com/live_market/dynaContent/live_watch/option_chain/optionKeys.jsp?symbol=" NIFTY"&date="30JUL15
OI - Open InterestChng in OI - Change in Open InterestIV - Implied VolatilityVolume - Volume and Of course the
Strike Price
WHAT DO WE NEED TO MAKE THE DECISIONS?
1. Find out the Strike Price and OI, where we have the MAX OI in PE - MAX_OI_PE
2. Find out the Strike Price and the OI, where we have the MAX OI in CE - MAX_OI_CE
3. Find out the Strike Price and CHG in OI, where we have the MAX Change in OI in PE - MAX_CHGOI_PE
4. Find out the Strike Price abnd CHG in OI, where we have the MAX Change in OI in CE - MAX_CHGOI_CE
Intraday day trading would be based on Change in OI
Positional/Swing trading would be based on OI
2 UNDERSTANDING THE OPTIONS CHAIN USING SIMPLERULES
RULE 1: IF THE MAX (CHG IN OI) @ PE > MAX (CHG IN OI) @CE, THEN IT IS A BULLISH MARKET.
Why MAX (CHG in OI) PE will be a Bullish signal?
For the Market to exist we should be Have Bears and Bulls. Market is always trading in a specified range for any day. So
we have toassume that BULLs will try to Protect the Bottom of the Range and Bears will Try to Protect the Top of the
Range (Not let the marketbeyond the Range). BULLs have LONG Positions in the market. So to protect their LONGs they
take the Opposite positions in theOptions market by selling the PUTS (PE) to hedge their positions, so that if the market
goes in the opposite direction of their Longsthey can make money using Options. But normally the market makers make
money both in the Equities and in the Options market.When they build a huge volume around a Strike Price, they are
basically sending a signal to the BEARS saying "This is our area -We will not let you go below this level". So BULLs
normally control a Lower Strike and BEARS normally control an upper Strike. Fora given day this Range would act as the
Intraday Range.When the MAX COI PE > MAX COI CE, meaning when PEs are Shorted then the market goes UP
eventually. This is an intradayrule. And COI should be used for Intraday only.
Probably what is overlooked and what need to be fine-tuned is the Range of the MAX COI. For NIFTY If the Difference
betweenMAX COI PE and MAX COI CE is more than say 100 points then it probably indicates a FLAT market rather than
Trending marketfor the Day. So it would be good to Sell the Spread the rather than going bullish on the spread and so it
would better to avoid Debitspreads in the Range. So The Rule is valid only when the Range is close. When the Range
is narrow then it indicates a Real fight.For example let us take the example of 15-OCT-13, After the market came down
from 6200 to 6100, the COI range was at 6000 and6300, which is a 300 points Range, which indicates that market would
be FLAT for intraday. If the Range would have been 6000-6100 and 6100CE > 6000PE then it would indicated further
bearishness
RULE 2: IF THE MAX (CHG IN OI) @ PE < MAX (CHG IN OI) @CE, THEN IT IS A BEARISH MARKET.
Same explanation as the Bullish marketRule 2 is the Opposite of Rule 1. Once again this rule is for Intraday only.Probably
what is overlooked and what need to be fine-tuned is the Range of the MAX COI. If the Difference between MAX COI
PEand MAX COI CE is more than say 100 points then it probably indicates a FLAT market rather than Trending market
for the Day. Soit would be good to Sell the Spread the rather than going bullish on the spread and so it would better to
avoid Debit spreads in theRange. So The Rule is valid only when the Range is close. When the Range is narrow then
it indicates a Real fight. For example letus take the example of 15-OCT-13, After the market came down from 6200 to
6100, the COI range was at 6000 and 6300, which isa 300 points Range, which indicates that market would be FLAT for
intraday. If the Range would have been 6000-6100 and 6100CE> 6000PE then it would indicated further bearishness.
RULE 3: FOR POSITIONAL/SWING TRADING USE THE OIINSTEAD OF THE CHN IN OI AND THE SAME RULE AS RULE1 AND
RULE 2 WILL FOLLOW.
You can see in the current month that sum of OI @ PE is greater than sum of OI @ CE and Market came from Lows of
5700 andTrading at 6100 now. The OI data should be always used for Monthly Trends or Positional Trends
RULE 4: CAN WE ALWAYS GO WITH THIS LOGIC ON THEMAX (OI) AND MAX (CHG IN OI)?
NO. This might not work during the last week of Expiry when the Market makers are closing their positions.
So during the last week of Expirybetter to stay away from the market or Play the market using the Implied
Volatility.In the last week of Expiry normally the Reversal of the Positions happen. So better to avoid all the
General rules on OI and COI on the last weekor when there is a Major Reversal or When the market is
Trading at the MAX OI @ CE or MAX OI @ PE.
RULE 5: IN THE CHG IN OI, WHAT IF WE GET NEGATIVEVALUES? WHAT SIGNALS DOES IT GIVE?
If we get the Negative values in "CE", that means Market makers (BEARS) are squaring off the Call Positions (The
SHORTPositions). So heavy squaring off in CE is a BULLISH signal and we have to expect a BREAKOUT if there is a
sudden spike in thesquaring volume. There is a panic situation. Normally this will happen all of a sudden in say 10-
20 minutes and we have to exit theShorts immediately and can GO LONG.
It is the Vice versa if we get Huge Negative Values in "PE".
If we get Negative Values both in PE and CE, then blindly SELL the OI pairSmall negative values indicate the
normal profit booking.Negative Values indicates squaring off and Reversal. Huge Values in Terms of Lakhs indicate
a MAJOR Reversal. This normallyhappens when the market is trading at the monthly RESISTANCE (MAX OI @ CE) or
monthly SUPPORT (MAX OI @ PE).
RULE 6: FOR INTRADAY TRADING, BASED ON THE "CHG INOI" I GOT THE BULLISH OR BEARISH SIGNAL. CAN I GO
ANDBUY THE OPTIONS? HOW DO I DECIDE WHETHER TOBUY/SELL THE OPTION?
Important and a Difficult question.
Unless if it is a Strong BULL or a STRONG BEAR, the Safe strategy would be to SELL the pair so that it is less risky. I
mean if weget the Range as 5800PE and 6000CE. Then Sell 5800PE and 6000CE.
RULE 6B: NO I DON'T WANT TO DO PAIR TRADING. I WANTTO TAKE MORE RISK AND DO SOME NAKED CALLS /
PUTS.HOW DO I DECIDE WHETHER TO BUY/SELL?
Use the Implied Volatility. I normally take the top (most traded) 5 Strikes and calculate the Average PE and CE volatility.
Also find out the Historic Volatility of the underlying Futures.
Let us take NIFTY and say we have
Historic Volatility HVOLT= 21.18% (Get it from the NSEindia.com - FOVOLT.csv)
Average PE VOLT - 18.78%. Average CE VOLT - 19.4%.
So the observations are
PE VOLT < HVOLT - Low Volatile marketCE VOLT < HVOLT- Low Volatile market
So in a Low volatile market, and if the signal is Bullish, then instead of the Buying Calls, SELL the Puts and vice
versa.Note: I am still discovering and learning about the Volatility. So will give more details when it comes. But in
summary, if the Volatilityis Low, then it is a Buying market and if the Volatility is High it is a Selling market.
Rule 1 to 5 are more general Rules. Now comes the most important Rule. With all these Rules we have to now take a
position. Thepossible options we have are
Naked Options
Debit Spreads
Credit SpreadsI will put down my experience on the above. So use these more as an observation and not as a Rule
because I am still learning.
For Naked Options and Debit Spreads we want the VOLT to increase or Stay ASIS but we definitely don't want the VOLT
to comedown which will hurt our positions. From My experience the VOLT increases when the Market goes down and the
VOLT Decreaseswhen the Market goes UP. VOLT is also a function of INDIAVIX. So you can use VIX and VOLT
interchangeably
So General Rule would be
- Go for Debit Spreads when you feel that the market is on DOWN TREND- Go for Credit Spreads when you feel that the
Market is on an UP TREND.So the basic assumption is on the VOLT. Now in a REAL BULLISH market, VOLT can go UP
also. Now somebody can say thatMarket has moved from 5100 to 6100. Will you not call it a BULL market? The answer
from my point of view is NO, it is not aBULLISH market.
After all these rules, we have to finally take a call on where the market will go - UP or DOWN. The second thing is we
also need tohave an idea on Where the VOLT will go, UP or DOWN. So a combination of Market Trend and VOLT should
help take the DebitSpread or Credit Spread.
VOLT UP + MARKET UP = Debit Spread = REAL BULLISH MarketVOLT UP + MARKET DOWN = Debit Spread = REAL
BEARISH MarketVOLT DOWN + MARKET UP = Credit Spread = REVERSAL
VOLT DOWN + MARKET DOWN = Credit Spread = REVERSALSo you can see that finally it is a GAME OF VOLT and
we end UP predicting the VOLT
JULY-13 - Market was going UP - VOLT was flat and so Credit Spreads were profitable AUG-13 - Market was going
DOWN - VOLT was going UP - Debit Spreads would have been profitableSEP-13 - Market was going UP - VOLT was
going DOWN - Credit Spreads would have been more profitableOCT-13 - So far Market is going UP - VOLT is
coming down - Credit spreads would have been profitable.
One more important data you have to observe is that the INDIAVIX normally is in the Range of 20-25 for the majority of
the time andwhere all our General Rules would be successful.
RULE 7: RESPECT THE STRIKE PRICE WHERE THE MAXPAIN IS SITUATED
The Strike where the MAX Pain is like the Centre of Gravity. So especially during the Expiry the market will try to move
and will try toexpire around the MAX Pain. So in the last week of expiry one should avoid any OTM call around the MAX
Pain because the OTMcalls around the MAX Pain will expire worthless.
For Example in Jul13 Expiry the MAX Pain on 22-J
TRADING IN OPTIONS - MY CHANGE IN UNDERSTANDINGCOMPARED TO JUL-13.
One obvious thing which I may be overstated and overemphasized was the Credit Spreads. I was always for Credit
Spreadsbecause it worked very well in JUL-13 and which gave good Results in JUL-13, when the VOLT was FLAT and
market was GoingUP.
Credit Spreads do not work always. Basically one should not overlook the VOLT and its influence on Options. High
VOLT will affectthe Credit Spreads very badly.
So at the end of the Day we have to be find out whether to go for Debit Spreads or Credit Spreads. One might be
confused whetherto go for Debit Spread or Credit spread because it is not something to do with the Direction of the
market but a function of VOLT.
So those who are Trading with Options, you should first have view of where the VIX or VOLT is heading and
correspondingly Takethe Credit or Debit Spreads
sUMMARY OF THE RULES
The important point is that we did not have a Rule for VOLT or for other important Option Greeks. So we should have
a Rule for atleast for VOLT.
So the Last Rule would be on VOLT
Rule 8: ON VOLATILITY
If you perceive that the VOLT will go down, then go for Credit Spreads. If you feel that the VOLT will go UP, then for Debit
spreads.While choosing the Credit Spreads always choose the OTM strikes. While choosing the strikes for Debit Spreads,
Always go for ITMor ATM strikes.
To put the Rules in a different way, when you see that the VOLT is HIGH then go for Credit Spreads expecting the VOLT
to comedown and when you see the VOLT is LOW, then go for Debit Spreads expecting the VOLT to go UP. Not AN
EASY THING TOPREDICT Right. YES THAT IS THE MOST DIFFICULT JOB and THAT IS WHERE MOST OF THE
TECHNIQUE LIES.The important catch is how to predict whether the VOLT will go UP or DOWN or Stay FLAT.
Unfortunately in the Options Chain I donot see any Traces for VOLT Trend. So we have to use the INDIAVIX and see the
Trend and Trade based on that.
ANYWAY Rest assured that if you keep mastering these Techniques, then in a normal market these rules will work.
DISCLAIMER: BY UNDERSTANDING ALL THE 8 RULES, CAN WE SAY THAT ONE CAN START TRADING IN
OPTIONS? THE ANSWER IS NO. IT IS JUST SOME BASICS AND GOOD PLACE TO START OPTIONS. THE IDEA OF
THE RULES WAS NOTTO EXPLAIN OR UNDERSTAND THE OPTIONS AND DO OPTIONS TRADING. THE IDEA WAS
TO UNDERSTAND THEOPTIONS CHAIN TABLE. I REPEAT THAT I AM IN NO WAY TRYING TO TEACH OPTIONS. I
AM ONLY TRYING TOUNDERSTAND ON HOW TO READ THE OPTIONS CHAIN TABLE. THERE IS A LOT OF
DIFFERENCE BETWEENUNDERSTANDING OPTIONS AND UNDERSTANDING OPTIONS CHAIN TABLE. AND THE 8
RULES VERY MUCHSUMMARIZES THE OPTIONS CHAIN TABLE AND HOW TO READ AND INTERPRET OPTIONS
CHAIN. TRADING INOPTIONS IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT GAME, WHICH I AM ALSO LEARNING. IF PEOPLE
WANT TO DISAGREE ORCORRECT ANY OF THE RULES, THEN PLEASE YOU ARE MOST WELCOME. BECAUSE I
ALSO WANT TO KNOW,CORRECT AND LEARN. END OF THE DAY I HAVE PUT IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN MY
UNDERSTANDING OF THE OPTIONSCHAIN WITH A GREAT COLORFUL TOOL AND I VERY MUCH USE THE SAME
TOOL. I DON'T HAVE SOME OTHER SECRETTOOL NOR AM I AN OPERATOR TRYING TO MANIPULATE PEOPLE.
ONE IMPORTANT OBSERVATION WHICH IS TO DO WITHPSYCH OR OUR MIND
.
This is an important observation I have made. Some people or most of the people, especially the intraday traders make
(quick and fast and huge) money when the market goes down. In other words they are good at Selling. It is also because
when the marketgoes down it goes down like a Rocket. When the market goes UP, most of the time either there is a GAP
UP or it goes like a Snail. And the Intraday traders that I am talking about do not have the patience to wait in the
Bull market and whatever Quick Money theymade in the Bear market, they lose all the money and their capital in the Bull
market. In summary it is do with their mind. Theirhands will be always itching to SELL, SELL, SELL... This is a very big
problem...
SO HOW TO OVERCOME THIS PSYCHOLOGICALPROBLEM?
One of Simple suggestion. Instead of Going Long and losing the money because you do not have the patience to hold
your Longpositions. Next time when the market is going UP, Try the Pair trading (In the pair trading you have to SELL the
pair) or if you areadamant on that you want to trade naked, Then Sell the PUT. This way you will always be selling
and your mind is happy that youhave sold
WHEN TO USE MAX PAIN?
Please use the MAX Pain only for taking positional Trades or during Expiry.
For Positional trades if the current NIFTY value is away from MAX Pain by around 4%-5% (240-300 points in NIFTY), then
take aTrade which will lead you to the MAX Pain.
Otherwise do not give much importance to MAX Pain when the Series is just now starting.
There was may be one more observation which people can use to take positions at the end of the Expiry
HOW TO CALCULATE THE TREND USING COI?
It is my own logic. It need not be 100% Fool proof.
One simple way is the compare the MAX COI @ PE and MAX COI @ CE. The other advanced way is to combine many
strikes andfind out the Trend and take an average.
See if you are able to decipher this. On 17-Jul-15, Using COI data, we see that the Support is at 8450, Pivot @ 8500,
andResistance @ 8700. Using the three strikes and their COI we now compute the Trend for all permutations and
combinations. Wefind that we have 7 UP and 3 DOWN. So for intraday we take a LONG view.
PE CEUP UPDOWN 199,975 8700 596,075 UPUP 909,400 8500 24,800 UPUP 6,350 8450 -13,050 UPDOWN DOWNUP
7 DOWN 3 UP
Traditional Method of calculating the Trend for a StrikeThose who Trading with the Options, and looking for a direction, it
is calculated based on the traditional wisdom of reading theOptions Chain.
That is
When the CE NET CHG +ve and the COI +Ve - Bullish - Long BuildWhen the CE NET CHG +ve and the COI -Ve - Bullish
- Short unwindingWhen the PE NET CHG +ve and the COI +Ve - Bearish - Long buildWhen the CE NET CHG +ve and
the COI -Ve - Bullish - Long unwindingI don’t use this logic. Since the price coming down or going up is not merely a
function of the market Trend but also a function ofvolatility. Once again for Options trading we have to use the volatility
effectively. For any decision always consider volatility.
HOW TO SET TARGET AND STOP LOSS USING FOVOLT?
My view on how to set the FULL Target for a Trade and Stop loss?This is just for a discussion and debate and based on
my observation. So please take your decisions accordingly.
I always notice and Read that the tips providers and the experts always provide a Target of 1% for an entry and stoploss
say 20% or40%
Why not the Target be 1.2% from the Low? If you look at the OAT you will notice that it is 1.2%.So where is this extra .2%
or 20 basis points coming from?
Can we also use the 1.2% for other stocks?
My view is that the extra 20 basis point is basically the VOLT in FOVOLT. For NIFTY the VOLT is around 20%. So you
can alwaysset the Target for the extra 20 basis points.
So next time when you set the Target look at the FOVOLT and Set your Target accordingly. Why to lose the 20 basis
points?
NEVER BUY OTM CALLS / PUTS
Never buy an OTM Call or the Strike where there is Resistance or Support because those are candidates for SELLING.
For example if as per the Hourly chart if the Support is at 7250 and Resistance at 7395 and if the Bias is UP side, Then
the strategymight be
SELL 7200PE/7250PE-7400CE/7450CEBuy 7300CE / 7350CE
SOME SIMPLE NUMBER CRUNCHING TO SHOW THEPROFITS ONE CAN GET IN SELLING AND THOSE WHOBELIEVE
THAT SELLING OPTIONS WILL NOT GIVE A HUGEPROFIT.
There are 4 weeks in the Expiry.
The combined premiums starts at 120 and roughly there are 20 trading days. Since we are selling we are looking for
some 120/20 =6 points to erode every day. And ideally if you have chosen the right pair in the beginning of the month, you
should get the Full 120points.
At the end of the first week, the 30 points would be lost and 120 will become 90 At the end of the second week another
30 points would be lost and 90 will become 60.
In the third week 60 will become 30
and on the day of expiry 30 will become 0.
So ideally if somebody has a Capital of 1 Lakh then they can SELL 200 quantities and ideally they can get a profit of
around 200 *120 = 24000 in a month. Even if one gets 10000 then it is a huge profit. On top of this if one can intelligently
combine it with a LongPut or Call then they can make more profit.
I have been observing the Premiums and this is how it happens.... You can take a pair and watch the Premiums before
you believeFor example take the Pair 6800-7300 and See the Pair's value on 26-Jun-14.
So how do we find the pair for Stocks?
For NIFTY it works like these and it should work in a similar fashion for Stocks also.For NIFTY since you need minimum
two strikes to SELL the Difference would be 100 points. Add 20% (NIFTY Historic Volatility).That would be 120 points. So
ideally on Week 1 of Expiry you should be able to find a Pair with a Premium of around 120.Let us take SBIN.SBIN Strike
is 20 points. And the HIST VOLT is now at 60%.So we would need to find a pair whose value would be 20+20=40 + 60% *
40 = 40 + 24 = 64.The MAX OI is at 2500-2700 with a combined premium of 120. But we would need only 64 points. So
we can choose outside 2500-2700. Say 2260-2760 with a comined premium of 68.So every day you should get around
3.2 points.By the end of First week 64 should become 64-16 = 48Second week 48 should become 32 and so on ...
st and huge) money when the market goes down. In other words they are good at Selling. It is also because when the
marketgoes down it goes down like a Rocket. When the market goes UP, most of the time either there is a GAP UP or
it goes like a Snail. And the Intraday traders that I am talking about do not have the patience to wait in the Bull market and
whatever Quick Money theymade in the Bear market, they lose all the money and their capital in the Bull market. In
summary it is do with their mind. Theirhands will be always itching to SELL, SELL, SELL... This is a very big problem...
SO HOW TO OVERCOME THIS PSYCHOLOGICALPROBLEM?
One of Simple suggestion. Instead of Going Long and losing the money because you do not have the patience to hold
your Longpositions. Next time when the market is going UP, Try the Pair trading (In the pair trading you have to SELL the
pair) or if you areadamant on that you want to trade naked, Then Sell the PUT. This way you will always be selling
and your mind is happy that youhave sold
ul-13 is at 6000. So any 6100, 6200... Calls will expire at Zero value. Similarly for5900PE, 5800Pe, etc
