Expiry-day Rs 1 option selling
Selling ₹1 options is the opposite of the hero-zero lottery ticket: on NIFTY weekly expiry morning, it sells the far out-of-the-money call and put that trade for about a rupee and waits for them to expire worthless. Each leg has a stop at twice its sale price. The trade wins almost every week, but each win is tiny, so costs and the rare big move decide the outcome.How it trades
Results
PRE-BUILT · DEFAULTSWhere it made and lost money
Every condition was positive before costs, so the evidence is about how much rather than whether. Quiet expiry sessions with a range under 0.75% made ₹2,402 over 18 trades with every trade a winner, because the far strikes simply decayed. Trend days that closed near the high or low made the least, ₹1,631 over 16 trades, with the win rate dropping to 88%: a one-way move is the only thing that can push a ₹1 option toward its 2x stop. Flat opens made ₹4,424 over 37 trades. The amounts are small, which is why costs took most of the profit.
About this strategy
- Trade only on NIFTY weekly expiry day, which is Tuesday unless it is a holiday.
- At 09:30, find the OTM call and the OTM put of the expiring weekly whose prices are closest to ₹1.
- Skip a side if its closest option is priced under ₹0.30.
- Sell one lot of each selected option.
- Watch each leg on its own: if its price doubles from the sale price, buy it back.
- There is no target; whatever is still open is bought back at the session's last price, standing in for settlement.
Why traders use it
On expiry morning, options far from the index have only hours to live and need an unusually large move to be worth anything at the close. Selling them looks like collecting small change that is almost never claimed. The idea appeals to traders who want a very high win rate and a simple weekly routine, and it is often discussed as a way to use margin that would otherwise sit idle on expiry day.
The year in plain words
On NIFTY from 1 Oct 2025 to 30 Sep 2026, the strategy traded all 52 weekly expiries and won 50 of them, a 96% win rate. Only one trade hit the 2x stop on a leg; 51 ran to the close. Net P&L was ₹6,299 before costs, but after ₹20 per order and bid-ask slippage only ₹1,563 was left, about ₹30 per expiry. Every month was positive before costs, between ₹381 and ₹713. The rules worked as designed in this calm year, but the margin needed is large next to the income, and costs took about three-quarters of it.
What the settings do
Risks
- Income per week is tiny, so brokerage and the bid-ask spread on ₹1 options take most of it.
- A single violent expiry-day move can lose far more than the stop suggests, wiping out many weeks of gains.
- Far-OTM strikes trade thinly, so both the sale and any stop can fill worse than the last traded price.
- Short options on expiry day attract extra exposure margin, so the return on margin used is very low.
Who it suits
Traders with spare margin on expiry day who want a small, mechanical weekly routine and accept that the trade earns little and depends on avoiding rare large moves. Statutory charges, not included here, would cut the thin net further.
Questions traders ask
Is selling ₹1 options on expiry day safe?
It wins most weeks because far-OTM options usually expire worthless, but it is not safe in the sense of low risk. A sharp move can turn a ₹1 option into ₹20 or more within minutes, and stops on thinly traded strikes can fill badly. The win rate hides that tail risk.
Is selling far OTM options profitable?
In this NIFTY backtest from 1 Oct 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 it made ₹6,299 before costs and ₹1,563 after ₹20 per order and bid-ask slippage, winning 50 of 52 expiries. STT and other statutory charges are not included. Past results do not guarantee future ones.
Why does the win rate stay high but the profit stay small?
The average winning week made about ₹129 for one lot before costs. Each week both legs are sold and then bought back, four orders in all, so ₹80 of brokerage plus the bid-ask spread comes off that small amount. That is why after-costs P&L falls to roughly ₹30 per expiry.
Which expiry does this strategy trade?
The NIFTY weekly expiry, which falls on Tuesday. If Tuesday is a market holiday, the expiry and the trade move to the previous trading day. BANKNIFTY and FINNIFTY no longer have weekly options, so they are not used here.