In-The-Money (ITM)
A call with a strike below spot, or a put with a strike above spot. Either has real intrinsic value.
An ITM option's premium is at least its intrinsic value, plus whatever time value the market still assigns it. Deep-ITM options behave closest to the underlying itself, with high delta and low time decay as a share of premium. That is why DeltaK's Zero-OTM rule restricts long entries to the 2nd or 3rd deepest ITM strike rather than the cheaper, faster-decaying OTM chain.
Example: with NIFTY at 25,000, the 24,900 call is 100 points ITM. If it's trading at ₹230, at least ₹100 of that is guaranteed intrinsic value the moment spot stays put. Only the remaining ₹130 is time value exposed to decay.
Call strikes
Put strikes
↑ Quantum Horizon — the ATM strike, spot's current position
Related terms
See it read live, not just diagrammed
DeltaK reads Aegis/Zenith wall migration and RRG rotation live across NIFTY, BANKNIFTY, FINNIFTY and MIDCPNIFTY. Sign in and watch it work in Paper mode.