Free · Reference
Every Term, In Plain English
Standard exchange terminology covering strikes, the Greeks, margin, settlement, alongside the desk's own vocabulary, defined in full rather than left as unexplained jargon inside the terminal.
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Options Basics
- PremiumThe price paid by a buyer, and received by a seller, for one option contract.
- Strike PriceThe fixed price at which an option's buyer can buy (call) or sell (put) the underlying.
- At-The-Money (ATM)The strike closest to the current spot price. It carries the most time value on the chain.
- In-The-Money (ITM)A call with a strike below spot, or a put with a strike above spot. Either has real intrinsic value.
- Out-of-the-Money (OTM)A call with a strike above spot, or a put with a strike below spot. Pure time value, no intrinsic value.
- MoneynessWhere a strike sits relative to spot right now: in, at, or out of the money. It shifts every tick, and it sets how much of a premium is intrinsic value.
- Breakeven PointThe underlying price at expiry where a position's total P&L is exactly zero.
- Lot SizeThe fixed number of underlying units bundled into one F&O contract, set by the exchange rather than the trader.
- Option ChainThe full grid of calls and puts across every listed strike for one underlying and expiry.
The Greeks
- Delta (the Options Greek)How much an option's premium moves for a ₹1 move in the underlying. Not to be confused with DeltaK, the strategy this site's terminal runs.
- ThetaThe daily erosion of an option's time value as expiry approaches, always working against the option buyer.
- GammaHow fast delta itself changes as the underlying moves: the acceleration behind the acceleration.
- VegaHow much an option's premium changes for a one-point move in implied volatility.
- Implied Volatility (IV)The market's forward-looking estimate of how much the underlying will move, backed out of current option prices.
Indian F&O Rules
- Freeze QuantityThe largest quantity the exchange accepts in a single F&O order, the ceiling on how many lots one order can carry.
- Weekly ExpiryThe recurring weekly settlement date for an index's options contracts.
- Monthly ExpiryThe last weekly expiry of the calendar month for a given index. It carries the deepest liquidity and open interest.
- Physical SettlementSEBI's rule that in-the-money stock F&O contracts settle by actual delivery of shares, not a cash payout.
- Securities Transaction Tax (STT) on OptionsA transaction tax charged on options trades, including on exercise of ITM options at expiry.
- SPAN MarginThe exchange's scenario-based minimum margin requirement for a futures or short-options position.
- Exposure MarginAn additional margin layered on top of SPAN, covering risk SPAN's scenario grid doesn't fully capture.
- Circuit Limit (Dynamic Price Band)The exchange-set price band beyond which an order simply can't be placed for that session.
- F&O Ban ListStocks whose F&O open interest has crossed 95% of the market-wide position limit, restricted to reducing existing positions only.
Reading the Market
- Put-Call Ratio (PCR)Total put open interest divided by total call open interest: a rough sentiment gauge, read contrarian more often than literally.
- Max PainThe strike where total outstanding option value would be lowest at expiry, and where option writers as a group lose the least.
- Open Interest (OI)The total number of outstanding contracts at a strike that haven't yet been closed, exercised or expired.
- OI Buildup MatrixThe 2x2 reading of price direction against open-interest direction: long buildup, short buildup, short covering, long unwinding.
- RolloverClosing a position in the expiring month's contract and opening the equivalent position in the next month, to keep exposure running past expiry.
DeltaK Terminology
- AegisDeltaK's name for the live support wall: the strike below spot, by open interest or session volume, that price is being defended against.
- ZenithDeltaK's name for the live resistance wall: the strike above spot, by open interest or session volume, that a rally is being capped against.
- Quantum HorizonDeltaK's live ITM/OTM boundary through the option chain: the at-the-money line, redrawn tick by tick as spot moves.
- COA MatrixCumulative Open Interest Analysis, DeltaK's read of Aegis and Zenith across two generations of positioning at once.
- RRG MomentumDeltaK's per-strike Relative Rotation Graph: RS-Ratio against RS-Momentum, sorted into Leading, Improving, Weakening and Lagging.
- Zero-OTM RuleDeltaK's constraint that long entries are restricted to the 2nd or 3rd deepest in-the-money strike. Never ATM, never OTM.
- DKMS Protocols (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta)The four regimes of the DeltaK Matrix Strategy. Which one is armed is read live off how Aegis and Zenith are actually migrating.
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