F&O Action: Futures and Options market cues for trading on January 24

Max pain at the end of today's trade stands at 17700.

Equity market in India closed this week with a cut of almost 3.5 per cent. Today was the fourth day in a row that Nifty 50 was down in triple digits. At close, Nifty was down 0.79 per cent or 139.8 points at 17617. In today’s trade, even the broader market fell. Global weakness started by tech-heavy Nasdaq is leading to such a fall in the market. Till yesterday, Nifty VIX was not rising, however, in today’s trade Nifty VIX rose by 6.17 per cent and closed at 18.89, the highest in one month. This shows the nervousness among investors.  

Activity on the F&O front for weekly expiry on January 27 shows 18000 to act as a strong resistance now. Highest open interest contract of 188847 stood at this strike price. The second-highest call option open interest 155964 for Nifty 50 stood at a strike price of 19000. In terms of the highest addition of open interest in the call options front, it was at 17600 in the last trading session. A total of 46748 open interest was added at this strike price.  

In terms of put activity, the highest put writing was seen at a strike price of 17000 (34296) open interest added on January 21, followed by 17600 where (33817) open interest was added. Highest total put open interest (114381) stood at a strike price of 17000. This is followed by a strike price of 17500, which saw a total put option open interest of 82979 contracts.

The Nifty 50 put call ratio (PCR) closed at 0.72 for the day. A PCR above 1 is considered bullish while a PCR below 1 is considered bearish.

Max pain at the end of today's trade stands at 17700.