NIFTY expiry 18 August 2026: what the 24,200 options did in the last 30 minutes
On Tuesday 18 August 2026 the NIFTY strike nearest the index at 15:00 was 24,200. The index went from 24,213 at 15:00 to 24,155 at 15:30, down 58 points across the settle walk.
The at-the-money legs, 15:00 to 15:30
| Leg | 15:00 | High | Low | 15:30 | End vs 15:00 | Open interest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24,200 CE | ₹34.1 | ₹53.0 15:01 | ₹0.1 15:30 | ₹0.1 | worthless | 35.2M → 35.4M |
| 24,200 PE | ₹11.0 | ₹64.2 15:27 | ₹5.7 15:01 | ₹45.0 | 4.1× | 43.7M → 14.6M |
Premium of the strike nearest the index at 15:00, sampled every ten seconds from the NSE option chain. Index values are the chain's own quote. Dotted verticals mark a pin-book flip on Gamma Terrain.
What happened
The 24,200 call was ₹34.1 at 15:00. Its high was ₹53.0 at 15:01. Its low was ₹0.1 at 15:30, less than half of where it started the half hour. It ended at ₹0.1, worthless.
The 24,200 put was ₹11.0 at 15:00. It reached ₹64.2 at 15:27, 5.8× its 15:00 price. It ended at ₹45.0, 4.1× the 15:00 price. Open interest at the strike went from 43.7 million to 14.6 million, so positions were closed through the window.
Gamma Terrain's pin-book read flipped: at 15:21 the resting depth read the put strikes below the pin thinning (puts 18 %, calls 79 % of their baseline). A flip names the side whose book is emptying. Across 45 sessions it has not been a direction tell, it is a vacuum tell.
For context, across 21 NIFTY and SENSEX expiries measured to 2026-09-08, 15 of 42 at-the-money legs doubled at some point in this window, 26 lost half, and 13 ended at or above their 15:00 price. This page states what the tape did. It is not a recommendation to buy or sell anything.
Gamma Terrain shows the pin, the walls, the book read and every large print, tick by tick, on NIFTY and SENSEX.
The recap is the after-photo. The terrain is the window while it happens.
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