Nifty Options-What happens on Expiration day?

By | April 18, 2014 12:42 pm

Many traders will indulge in Option trading especially on Expiry Day to make some quick buck as sometimes Rs 1 Options can jump to Rs 20-30 in matter of time.

During my trading Seminar , general question which most of participants have is

Why do options trade at lesser than theoretical value on the expiry day ?

I have seen trader taking position in Options that trades less them their theoretical value, thinking price will correct End of day and they will make profits but in reality end up making losses Many traders every expiry do not  sell their ITM options and letting it expire(especially which are very close to strike price) or else take trades/strategies assuming that discounted price of option will correct before the end of the expiry day.

Let me explain them with few elaborative examples:

1. Nifty Futures  is trading at 7750 and today is the day of expiry. At around 2:00 PM, Nifty 7700 calls and 7800 puts are trading at around Rs 45. Ideally it should be at least 50, so why?

The 5 rs difference in price in above scenario is because of  Security Transaction Tax or STT. Exchange applies STT as discussed below.

STT on normal option trades done on the exchange is 0.017% of the selling side of the premium value.

STT on BUY option positions that get exercised is 0.125% of the entire CONTRACT VALUE. 

So point to note here is STT is applied on Contract Value in case the Option get exercised.

Options are considered exercised if you hold buy positions in options till the end of expiry(till after 3.30pm on last thursday of the month) and with them having some intrinsic value or being ITM (in the money). If you are holding Options which are having value as 0.5 than do not sell that option as you need to pay both STT and Brokerage but if Option has value more than 5 rs go ahead and Sell them before market closes else you need to pay more money from your pocket.

So lets consider 2 Example to show how will STT be calculated :

  • Trader X buys  1 lot of Nifty 7700 Call options at Rs 100 and sell it at Rs 100, you have to pay 0.017% of the premium value on the selling side. and no STT for your Buy transaction.

So while buying 50 x Rs 100 you don’t have to pay STT, but while selling you have to pay STT of Rs 0.85 [0.017% of Rs 5000 (50 x 100)].

 

  • Trader Y had bought 1 lot of Nifty 7700 options at Rs 100 and didn’t sell it but let it expire on the last day of the contract, it is considered exercised.

Again while buying there is no STT, but since it is exercised on the selling side you would pay an STT of Rs 375 ( 0.125% of ( (5900+100) X 50) much higher than Rs 0.85 which you would have paid if sold on the exchange instead of exercising.

 

Do remember that if you are short / written options (sold first), you have already paid STT and it doesn’t matter if you buy the options on the exchange or hold them till expiry to square off, there is no STT on the buying side. 
So now Traders will be able to unravel the mystery why 7700 CE and 7800 PE are trading less than their theoretical value. So if a traders exercise the Nifty Call and Put he need to pay an higher STT in tune of 300 odd Rupee per lot which is equivalent of 6 points in Nifty Options.

To Summarize on Expiry day

1. If you have bought options and they are expiring in the money, you would rather sell it on the exchange than let it expire/exercise and having to pay much higher STT.

2. If the options are expiring worthless (with 0 value), you don’t have to sell it to save STT because STT on options which has no value is zero.

3. If you see options which seem to be cheap (trading lesser than theoretical value), do consider the fact that it is so because of higher STT and will not magically correct before the end of the day.

 

Category: Trading Education

About Bramesh

Bramesh Bhandari has been actively trading the Indian Stock Markets since over 15+ Years. His primary strategies are his interpretations and applications of Gann And Astro Methodologies developed over the past decade.

12 thoughts on “Nifty Options-What happens on Expiration day?

  1. Sunil Iyer

    I have a nifty 10330 Put which i bought at 544. Its trading at 129 now. Expecting that NIfty will not close at 10300, shall i hold on to the Put and exercise it?

    Reply
  2. Achal

    If I have bought 3050 call of ABC company @56. Now on the day of expiry the share price is 3025 and the call is trading @12. If I do not sell it, what will happen? Will it get converted automatically to the Next Month contract or I will lose my Money?

    Reply
  3. Vineet Nigum

    Sir,

    If I had sold a nifty lot of PUT option of say 8400 at 200/- .
    And on the day of expiry, nifty ends at 8550. But, I dont square off my position wat happens ?
    What is the penalty ?
    When does my blocked margin money get released ?
    What is my profit ?

    Please advise.

    Reply
  4. Hareram Bhasin

    sir what happens when you sell a call or sell a put 15 days prior to month end wait till the end of the month and dnt buy back what happens in that senario o you make profit as it turns 0 in the end of the month plz reeply

    Reply
  5. Gayathri

    is it 100% option rate will come down . there is no SL. Pls suggest. I saw this since two months. it is coming less than 10 or 0.5 I have no more experience in this. just thought will do this to recover loss.

    Reply
  6. Gayathri

    hi,
    in nifty option during expiry it will become zero or less than 10 if the market is up because if it happens like this
    can I sell nifty option when it is 200 or 150 and can I wait during expiry to buy at lower price that is 5 or 10.

    can u please suggest.

    Reply
  7. traderaja

    The para ” Again while buying there is no STT, but since it is exercised on the selling side you would pay an STT of Rs 375 ( 0.125% of ( (5900+100) X 50) much higher than Rs 0.85 which you would have paid if sold on the exchange instead of exercising. ”

    should be

    ” Again while buying there is no STT, but since it is exercised on the selling side you would pay an STT of Rs 487.50 ( 0.125% of ( (7700+100) X 50) much higher than Rs 0.85 which you would have paid if sold on the exchange instead of exercising. ”

    Am I correct ? If I am wrong, what is 5900 ?

    Reply

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