An option chain is a table showing every listed option for a stock or index, calls on one side, puts on the other, with the strike prices running down the middle. Once you can read one row, you can read the whole chain.
This article explains the concept; for where to find the chain in the app, see How do I view the Option Chain on Rupeezy?
How is the chain laid out?
Three vertical zones:
- Middle column, strikes. The ladder of strike prices, lowest to highest. The strike nearest the current market price sits roughly at the centre.
- Left side, calls. All data for call options: premium (LTP), open interest (OI), change in OI, volume, implied volatility (IV) and bid/ask quotes.
- Right side, puts. The same columns for put options.
Most chains also shade the in-the-money zones: for calls, strikes below the market price; for puts, strikes above it. If ITM/ATM/OTM is new, detour to What are strike price, ITM, ATM and OTM?. The chain makes far more sense with moneyness in your head.
Let's read one row together
Divya opens the (fictional, illustrative) Nifty 50 chain with the index at 22,000 and looks at the 22,100 strike row:
| Call OI | Call LTP | Call IV | Strike | Put IV | Put LTP | Put OI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 48 lakh | ₹95 | 13.2% | 22,100 | 13.2% | ₹195 | 21 lakh |
Reading left to right:
- Call OI 48 lakh: 48 lakh contracts of the 22,100 call are open, a heavily populated strike. What OI does and doesn't tell you is covered in What is open interest (OI)?
- Call LTP ₹95: the last traded premium. This call is out-of-the-money (strike above the index), so the entire ₹95 is time value.
- Call IV 13.2%: the volatility expectation baked into that premium.
- Strike 22,100: the fixed level both options refer to.
- Put IV 13.2%: the same figure as the call. Read on for why.
- Put LTP ₹195: the 22,100 put is in-the-money (strike above the index), so its premium includes ₹100 of intrinsic value (22,100 − 22,000) plus ₹95 of time value.
- Put OI 21 lakh: fewer open put contracts at this strike than calls.
That's it. Every other row is the same sentence with different numbers.
Why do the call and the put show the same IV?
Because there is one volatility expectation per strike, not two. The call and the put on that row describe the same underlying, the same strike and the same expiry, so implied volatility is a property of the strike rather than of the side you happen to read it from.
Rupeezy works that single number out from whichever leg is out-of-the-money at the strike, then shows it against both. In Divya's row the index is at 22,000 and the strike is 22,100, so the call is the out-of-the-money leg, and the 13.2% is calculated from its ₹95 premium. The in-the-money put's price is not used for this. In-the-money options are taxed differently, and therefore priced differently, so an IV worked back from that price would carry the tax effect inside it rather than the market's view of volatility alone.
In Divya's tidy illustrative row the two sides line up exactly: take the put's ₹100 of intrinsic value out, and both legs are charging ₹95 for the same uncertainty. On a live chain the in-the-money side often sits a little away from that, for the same pricing reason described above. Which is one more reason the out-of-the-money leg is the one the number is read from.
Rupeezy calculates implied volatility and the Greeks using the Black-76 model. For what that model assumes and which price it reads, see How are Option Greeks calculated?
What patterns do traders look for across rows?
- OI concentration. Strikes with outsized OI show where positions cluster. Commentary often calls the heaviest call-OI strike "resistance" and the heaviest put-OI strike "support". Treat these as interpretation conventions, not barriers the market must respect.
- Premiums decaying down the ladder. Premiums shrink as strikes move further out-of-the-money. Comparing them shows what the market charges for each level of "hope".
- Liquidity. Strikes far from the market price often have thin volume and wide bid-ask gaps. The quoted LTP may be stale, and your actual fill can be much worse.
Things to keep in mind
- Always locate the current market price first. Moneyness, and therefore everything else in the chain, is relative to it.
- LTP can mislead on illiquid strikes; check bid/ask and volume before judging an option "cheap".
- The call and the put on a strike share one IV. A difference between the two sides is not a signal to trade on.
- OI walls and support/resistance readings are conventions that shift daily, not guarantees.
- A chain shows prices, not odds in your favour. Most OTM options still expire worthless; see What are the risks of trading Futures and Options (F&O)?
Read next
What is open interest (OI)? — The chain's other key column: how many contracts are actually open.