Question 1

What is Max Pain in MCX options?

Accepted Answer

Max Pain is the strike price at which option writers (sellers) collectively lose the least money at expiry, and option buyers as a group lose the most. It is calculated by finding the strike where total payout to all in-the-money Call and Put holders is minimized. Traders watch it because MCX prices often gravitate toward the Max Pain strike as expiry approaches, though it is not a guarantee.

Question 2

What is iVIX and how is it different from AAV?

Accepted Answer

iVIX is the implied volatility the options market is currently pricing in, derived from live MCX option premiums using the Black-76 model. AAV (Annualized Actual Volatility) is the realized volatility computed from historical price closes over trailing windows (5, 10, 20, 40, 60 days). Comparing iVIX to 20-day AAV shows the volatility premium — whether options are pricing in more or less movement than has actually occurred recently.

Question 3

What does PCR (Put-Call Ratio) tell you?

Accepted Answer

PCR is total Put open interest divided by total Call open interest for an expiry. A PCR above 1.2 (more Put OI than Call OI) is conventionally read as bullish positioning; below 0.8 (more Call OI) as bearish. Extreme readings are sometimes treated as a contrarian indicator near market turning points.

Question 4

Why use the Black-76 model instead of Black-Scholes for MCX options?

Accepted Answer

MCX options are options on futures contracts, not on spot. Black-76 (the Black model) prices options directly off the futures price and is the standard for commodity and futures options worldwide, whereas Black-Scholes assumes an option on a spot asset with a continuous dividend/cost-of-carry adjustment. Using Black-76 gives more accurate implied volatility and Greeks for MCX Gold, Silver, Crude Oil and other futures-based options.

Calls (CE)							Strike	Puts (PE)
OI	Chng OI	Vol	Bid/Ask	LTP	Chng	IV%	Price	IV%	Chng	LTP	Bid/Ask	Vol	Chng OI	OI
22	·	6	17,308.50 / 17,501.50	17,383.00	-3,948.50	·	2,00,000	·	-25.50	15.00	15.00 / 16.00	6.5K	+238	1.6K
2	·	·	11,987.50 / 12,704.00	17,180.00	+1,009.50	221.76%	2,05,000	51.17%	-32.00	28.50	27.50 / 28.50	10.8K	+476	1.1K
51	+3	16	7,454.50 / 7,569.00	7,950.00	-3,606.50	64.4%	2,10,000	40.05%	-17.50	93.00	91.50 / 93.50	22.0K	+631	1.9K
·	·	·	2,732.00 / 4,762.50	8,397.00	+1,163.50	·	2,14,000	34.05%	+339.50	401.00	364.50 / 424.50	19	+2	3
147	+89	1.8K	2,982.00 / 3,016.00	2,972.00	-3,472.00	33.02%	2,15,000	32.4%	+296.00	570.50	570.00 / 578.00	17.9K	+641	1.2K
2	·	·	1,790.50 / 2,613.00	7,268.00	+1,900.50	144.94%	2,16,000	31.09%	+628.00	823.50	800.00 / 845.00	100	+15	21
13	+9	23	1,522.00 / 1,744.50	1,749.50	-5,632.50	34.24%	2,17,000 ATM	30.93%	+898.00	1,221.00	1,165.00 / 1,228.50	55	+14	15
34	+33	167	1,116.00 / 1,204.00	1,132.00	-2,550.50	31.26%	2,18,000	31.94%	+984.00	1,783.00	1,665.50 / 1,777.00	42	+3	16
26	+22	103	765.00 / 815.00	792.00	-2,150.50	32.09%	2,19,000	36.59%	+1,498.50	2,601.00	2,262.50 / 2,444.00	18	+3	12
920	+540	13.1K	518.50 / 524.50	520.00	-2,102.50	32.29%	2,20,000 MAX PAIN	32.19%	+1,699.00	3,137.00	3,069.50 / 3,112.00	3.3K	+16	343
20	+15	46	327.50 / 369.50	396.00	-2,067.50	34.81%	2,21,000	36.81%	+2,146.00	4,078.50	3,806.00 / 4,070.50	3	·	8
45	+22	181	220.50 / 242.50	210.00	-1,375.50	33.22%	2,22,000	35.61%	+2,454.50	4,885.50	4,699.00 / 4,944.00	2	·	23
23	+16	62	99.50 / 137.50	100.50	-802.00	36.16%	2,24,000	30.51%	+3,012.50	6,661.00	6,564.50 / 6,769.00	27	+23	31
1.9K	+597	15.0K	99.50 / 101.00	101.00	-576.50	40.37%	2,25,000	44.51%	+3,297.00	7,778.00	7,625.00 / 7,718.00	290	+3	191
14	+7	37	39.50 / 49.50	48.00	-252.50	46.03%	2,28,000	·	+214.50	7,129.50	10,364.50 / 10,981.50	·	·	1
2.8K	+396	11.9K	32.50 / 33.50	32.50	-146.50	50.04%	2,30,000	57.74%	+3,745.00	12,700.00	12,544.50 / 12,707.50	36	·	177
1.1K	·	5.6K	20.50 / 21.00	20.00	-62.00	·	2,35,000	·	+3,748.00	17,400.00	17,544.00 / 17,716.00	14	+2	68
1	·	·	·	120.00	·	·	2,38,000	·	-847.50	15,976.50	230.00 / ·	·	·	·

MCX Option Chain