Moneyness says whether an option would be worth anything if it expired right now. It depends on three things: the strike, the spot price, and whether the option is a call or a put.
| Moneyness | Call | Put |
|---|---|---|
| In the money (ITM) | Strike below spot | Strike above spot |
| At the money (ATM) | Strike nearest spot | Strike nearest spot |
| Out of the money (OTM) | Strike above spot | Strike below spot |
With the sample spot at 25,180, 25,200 is the ATM strike, the one nearest spot. Calls at 25,150 and below are in the money, and so are puts at 25,200 and above. That includes the 25,200 put: it sits on the at-the-money row, but its strike is above spot, so it is ₹20.00 in the money. NSE’s chain shades every in-the-money cell by strike against spot, and so does the sample terminal on this site.
Intrinsic value and time value
A premium has two parts. Intrinsic value is what the option would pay if it expired now: spot minus strike for a call, strike minus spot for a put, and zero when that is negative. Time value is everything above it, the price of the chance of a bigger move before expiry.
| Contract | Moneyness | Premium | Intrinsic | Time value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25,000 call | In the money | 256.45 | 180.00 | 76.45 |
| 25,000 put | Out of the money | 58.65 | 0.00 | 58.65 |
| 25,200 call | At the money row, 20 points out of the money | 130.45 | 0.00 | 130.45 |
| 25,200 put | At the money row, ₹20.00 in the money | 132.50 | 20.00 | 112.50 |
| 25,400 call | Out of the money | 53.10 | 0.00 | 53.10 |
| 25,400 put | In the money | 255.05 | 220.00 | 35.05 |
Time value is largest at the money and shrinks as the strike moves away from spot in either direction.
Deep in the money and far out of the money
The further a strike sits from spot, the more one-sided the option becomes. A deep in-the-money option is mostly intrinsic value and moves almost point for point with Nifty: the 24,550 call, the lowest strike on the sample chain, has a delta of 0.95, and ₹630.00 of its ₹655.65 premium is intrinsic value. A far out-of-the-money option is all time value and moves little: the 25,800 call, the highest strike, has a delta of 0.04. Time decay is heaviest at the money, where there is the most time value to lose.
Moneyness moves with spot
Moneyness is not fixed. If Nifty rose 100 points from 25,180 to 25,280, the 25,250 call would move from out of the money to in the money, and the ATM strike would shift up with it. The shading in a live chain moves through the day for the same reason.
Why moneyness matters when you read the chain
- Premiums. In-the-money options cost more because part of the premium is intrinsic value.
- Delta. In-the-money options move more with Nifty and out-of-the-money options less; see the Greeks.
- Activity. Trading tends to cluster around the ATM strike, which is where volume and IV are usually read first.
- Settlement. Nifty options settle in cash. At expiry, in-the-money options pay their intrinsic value and out-of-the-money options expire worthless, which is the basis of max pain.
Related lessons
- Option Greeks: delta, gamma, theta and vega
- Implied volatility (IV) in the option chain
- Max pain: what it means and how it’s calculated
Open the sample chain to select any number and read what it means.
Educational content, not investment advice. Every figure here comes from a synthetic sample chain, not live prices. See the terms of use.