Long Put
Strongly bearish
Buy one put, pay the premium, and profit as spot falls below your strike. Loss is capped at the premium paid; the profit runs down to zero.
Payoff at expiry
Illustrative · NIFTY @ 25000Max Profit
₹14,362
Max Loss
₹8,138
Breakeven
24891
How it's built
Buy one at-the-money put. Same one-leg simplicity as a long call, mirrored for a down move.
When to deploy it
You expect a fast move lower: an Aegis support level failing, a negative catalyst, index-wide risk-off. Max loss is the premium paid; profit builds as spot falls, capped only by the floor of zero.
Worked example
Say NIFTY is trading around 25,000 with a few sessions left before expiry. You buy the 25000 put for ₹109 — a net debit of ₹8,138 for one lot of 75.
At expiry, the position is worth the most once NIFTY is on the right side of 24891 — up to ₹14,362 per lot. Move against that line instead and the worst case is capped at ₹8,138 per lot, not open-ended.
Mistakes that break this strategy
- Forgetting that implied volatility often expands going into a fall, so puts bought after the drop has started cost more than puts bought ahead of it.
- Using a long put to "hedge" a bullish portfolio without sizing it to the delta actually being offset.
- Letting a losing long put ride into expiry week instead of accepting the theta bleed and closing early.
More bearish strategies
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.