The Options Scanner, From the First Click to a Routine

First 5 Minutes

The question What do I do first, if I read nothing else?

Values in this guide are as of 19 October 2026, read from the source files listed in the Sources section. Anything this guide could not confirm is gathered once, in What we have not verified.

What the Options Scanner Is

The question What does a scanner do that an option chain does not?

This guide follows the page from the first click to a finished routine. A beginner can read each step in order, because every control is named, every column is explained and every number is worked out. A serious trader can jump to the part needed: the column quick reference, the exact floors and guards, the logic of All and Any, and the traps that make a list mislead. Every picture is a capture of the running scanner. Where a number cannot be backed from the product, the guide says so and links to What we have not verified.

Real tool · illustrative dataThe page bar

The whole Contracts view, from the page bar down to the first rows, is pictured in Step 1.

What It Does Not Do

• It places no orders. A row is a reading, and the contract dialog is for looking, not for trading.
• It does not forecast. Build-ups, Chance worthless and Expected move describe positions and prices at one moment.
• It does not hide the thin end. It leaves out contracts under its floors and says how many, and a lower floor shows them.
• It does not compute charges, taxes, margin or the cost of getting in and out. See Risk notes.
• It no longer lists ready-made strategy baskets. Those are checked in the strategy finder inside the Strategy Builder, and an older scanner link that names strategies opens there with the same settings. See Which tool when.

Four Words to Know Before the First Scan

The question Which few words must I know before any list makes sense?

Lot

Options trade in fixed bundles. Open Interest and volume are shown in lots (contracts divided by the lot size), because a lot is the smallest quantity you can trade. The lot size of each underlying comes from the product's catalogue, for example 65 for NIFTY and 30 for BANKNIFTY at 19 October 2026; the exchange revises lot sizes from time to time (lot sizes not re-checked).

Premium

The price of one option, in rupees per unit. The cost of one lot is the premium times the lot size. A premium of ₹17.90 on a lot of 65 is ₹1163.50 per lot (illustrative).

Open Interest

The number of option contracts still open. Every open contract has a buyer and a writer, so the number alone never says who was pushing. It counts positions, not trades.

Build-up

The premium and Open Interest read together. Four patterns exist: Long build-up, Short build-up, Short covering and Long unwinding. Step 6 of Part A explains each. The names are conventions for how traders read the pattern, not a record of who traded.

Four more terms appear at once and are defined in the glossary: expiry, window (how far back a change is measured), floor (the smallest traded amount a contract needs to be listed) and spread (the gap between the buying and selling quote). Strike-position words ATM, ITM and OTM and the figures IV, PCR and delta are linked where they first appear.

Two habits help. First, always read the lots before the percentage, because a percentage hides the size of the base. Second, read the settings under the scan name before reading any row; the second capsule names the window being measured.

Where the Numbers Come From and How Fresh They Are

The question How fresh is this, and how much can I lean on the time stamp?

The product's catalogue lists 217 F&O underlyings, 208 stocks and 9 indices. Whether the scanner reads exactly that list at runtime is not yet confirmed; the status line's count of underlyings tells you how many it actually listed.

The status line says what you are looking at. During the session it reads, for example, 5 Oct, 14:20 IST, then the count. In Contracts the count is the list on screen against every contract read at that expiry, for example 1292 of 9395 contracts · 196 underlyings, so it matches the scan chip Top gainers 1292 (when the list holds every contract read it says just 9395 contracts). While the page is still reading it says, for example, Reading 12 of 19 underlyings. In Contracts, if the file has not changed for more than 3 minutes it adds older than 3 minutes; after the close every view adds market closed. Quote the status line, not your clock, when you note what a list showed.

Two files built from the exchange's daily closes

Two readings do not come from the minute file. Both are built once a day from NSE's daily F&O closing file (the bhavcopy), and both describe; neither forecasts.

• The year of 30-day IV (IV rank and IV percentile in Custom). For each session the file reads the underlying's three nearest expiries that fall after that session, so an expiry that settles on the day is never used and no expiry day is left empty. It blends them to a constant 30 days. The file now runs from 16 September 2025 to 19 October 2026, 270 sessions, and it includes the Sunday Budget session of 1 February 2026. IV rank and IV percentile use its last 252 sessions: a percentile needs at least 60, a rank a full 252. The Implied Volatility page ranks the same file (IV year read from the file, not rebuilt by us).
• ATM Open Interest in context (the Experimental card in Customise). The file now reads to the 19 October 2026 close: 307 sessions from 21 July 2025. Each underlying's reading is set against its last 12 settled expiries, as Part A, Step 9 explains. We read the file's header and did not rebuild it (not rebuilt by us).

Time of Day: What to Expect Between 09:15 and 09:45

The question What can I use at 09:20, when the session is only minutes old?

A change over 5, 15, 30 or 60 minutes compares now with a stored minute that many minutes earlier. At the open there is no such minute yet, so the shorter windows wait. The session runs 09:15 to 15:40 IST. The times below are counted from the open and are approximate, because they follow the stored minutes and not the clock alone (first stored minute not confirmed).

If the window you want is not ready

• Choose the next shorter window, or Day. The page never prints a longer gap under a shorter name, so a figure you can see is a figure for the window it names. Check the status line: measured 09:20 → 09:25 IST names the two minutes compared.
• Volume vs pace jumps early. In a window, it divides by the minutes of session so far, so in the first minutes a few trades give a very large multiple. Read the lots beside it.
• If the market file is missing, the page reads chains directly and offers Day only, with a banner. Press Read again. See Why a contract or list is missing or empty.
• Gainers and losers on Day need a contract that traded yesterday (at least 10 lots) and a starting premium of at least ₹2. At the open this screens out many new expiries. That is the product's guard, not a gap in the data.

What exactly appears in the first minutes of a live session, and at which minute each window becomes ready, was not watched live for this guide (not yet confirmed). The wording above is from the product's source.

Reading It on a Phone

The question Can I run the scanner from a phone or a tablet, and what changes?

Yes. The same three views open on a phone, with a layout made for a narrow screen. The picture below is the Contracts view at 390 pixels wide.

Real tool · illustrative dataContracts on a phone

• One line per contract. On a phone and a tablet the symbol, the strike and the Call or Put chip sit on one line, for example BAJFINANCE 900 Put. Under it is one short line with the expiry and the days left, for example 27 Oct · 8 days. A phone drops the words "to expiry"; a wider screen prints 27 Oct · 8 days to expiry. On the day itself the line reads Expiry day.
• Shorter rows. Because the name no longer wraps onto three lines, a phone row is about 46 pixels tall, close to the desktop's. On a touch tablet rows are 52 pixels, which still leaves room for a finger. The name column is as wide as its longest name, and the figures scroll under it.
• Defaults fold to one line. At 768 pixels or less the settings in force that are at their defaults show as one label such as 6 defaults. Press it to open Customise.
• Customise is a sheet, opened by the gear in the top bar. Everything applies at once; press the cross to close.
• The table scrolls sideways, and the first columns show first. Press All columns for the rest. The name stays pinned.
• Scan chips and the Custom shelf swipe. Swipe along the row for more scans.
• The search pill shows its focus ring round the whole pill. An empty list after a search says No contracts match “X” with a Clear search button (Part A, Step 12).
• Touch targets are larger on touch screens (44 pixels, from the product's style rules). How they feel on a real device is not yet confirmed.

A short routine for a phone

1. Open Contracts, Most active, search your index symbol. Read Traded, then Spread.
2. Switch to Open Interest gainers, window 5m or 15m (see the time-of-day guide). Read lots, then the build-up name.
3. Press the top name to see its numbers, then confirm in the option chain, where the quote and depth are shown.

In this guide, wide figures and tables scroll sideways inside their own frame, with a soft edge showing there is more. Press a figure to see it large; press Escape or the close button to leave. The phone and tablet layout was read from the page's style sheets, not tried on every device (not tested on every device).

Contracts, Step by Step

Contracts lists single options the way a stock screener lists stocks. It is the view most readers open first, and the one the page opens on unless you left it on another view last time.

Open the Options Scanner. In the page bar, the capsule shows Contracts, Underlyings and Custom. Contracts is the default. The page remembers the view you used last in your browser, and a link that names a view always opens that view.

On first opening, the page shows Top gainers, for the current expiry, over the day, for all underlyings, Call & Put, with ₹10 lakh or more traded today. Those are the defaults, and every one of them can be changed in the steps below.

Real tool · illustrative dataStep 1 · The page on opening

The scan picker works in two steps. The first capsule picks a family: Price, Open Interest, Build-up or Volume. The second capsule shows the scans inside that family, and each scan carries a count: how many contracts it lists right now under the settings in force. A family remembers the scan you used last in it, so coming back lands where you left.

Real tool · illustrative dataPrice

Real tool · illustrative dataOpen Interest

Real tool · illustrative dataBuild-up

Real tool · illustrative dataVolume

That is thirteen scans in four families. Each scan answers one plain question, given in the table above. The results header names the scan, and the settings under it name the window it measures, so the list on screen always matches the question you chose.

Above the table, the header answers three things at a glance: which scan is open, under which settings, and how many rows it lists. Read it before reading any row.

Real tool · illustrative dataStep 3 · The header

• The scan name. The heading is the scan's name alone, such as Top gainers. What it asks is in the table of Step 2, and the window it measures is the second capsule: Since the previous close, Last 15 minutes, Last hour.
• The settings in force. Anything that differs from the defaults is a capsule with a cross; the defaults fold into one quiet line. Step 10 shows how to use them.
• The status line (beside the scan picker on a wide screen): when the market was read, for example 5 Oct, 14:20 IST, with older than 3 minutes if the file has not refreshed and market closed after the close, then how many contracts are listed out of every contract read at that expiry, and how many underlyings, for example 1292 of 9395 contracts · 196 underlyings. The first figure is the same as the count on the scan chip (Top gainers 1292), so the two always agree; when the list holds every contract read, the line says just 9395 contracts. On a shorter window it adds the two minutes compared, for example measured 14:05 → 14:20 IST. While the page is still reading it says, for example, Reading 12 of 19 underlyings.
• The footer under the table. It says how many more contracts matched the scan but traded under your money floor, holds a fold-out called How these are measured, and shows 50 rows at a time with a Show 50 more button (the last press shows what is left, for example Show 17 more); there is no hard cap on the rows.

The table is in the option chain's own language: heads in sentence case (Contract, Change, Price, Spot today, IV, Delta, Volume lots, Traded ₹, Open Interest change, Build-up), the unit on a small second line, one bright figure per cell and at most one small reading under it. Each row is one contract: a rank number, then the symbol, the strike and a Call or Put chip, with the expiry date and the days to expiry beneath (for example 27 Oct · 8 days to expiry, or Expiry day). The contract column stays pinned when the table scrolls sideways. On a phone or a tablet the name keeps to one line (see Reading It on a Phone).

Real tool · illustrative dataStep 4 · Top gainers, compact width

The columns are drawn in four bands, labelled Price, Risk, Flow and Positioning, so a reader knows what kind of figure each one is:

The first column after the name is the figure the scan ranks by, so it is the head in bright ink. The other columns follow in a fixed order for each scan, and scans in one family share a set, so moving between Top gainers and Top losers, or between the four build-ups, never moves a column.

Real tool · illustrative dataAn Open Interest scan, every column

Which columns each scan shows, in order

Delta is drawn only when the market file carries it for the rows on show; a column of dashes would say nothing.

Looking for one column's formula? The column quick reference lists every column with its meaning, formula and where it is shown. Every change on the list is a difference between two readings of the same contract, so a change always equals now − from. The window (Step 8) decides what "from" is: the previous session's close for Day, or the stored minute that many minutes earlier for 5m to 1h.

Real tool · illustrative dataClose-up · the contract cell

Real tool · illustrative dataClose-up · the Positioning band

Real tool · illustrative dataClose-up · the Build-up cell

Open Interest has a buyer and a writer on every contract, so Open Interest alone never says who was pushing. The four build-ups read premium and Open Interest together, which is the tie-breaker the option chain uses too.

A move smaller than the option chain's noise floor is labelled no clear pattern (a dash in the table, and the words "No clear pattern" in the contract dialog), so a flat contract never fills the four lists. Both halves must clear the floor for the window in use:

The 30-minute window uses the one-hour floor, because the option chain has no 30-minute floor of its own. A contract whose Open Interest started at zero and then rose is classed at once by the sign of its premium change.

The four build-up scans in the live tool

Real tool · illustrative dataLong build-up

Real tool · illustrative dataShort build-up

Real tool · illustrative dataShort covering

Real tool · illustrative dataLong unwinding

The other nine scans

Real tool · illustrative dataOpen Interest gainers

Real tool · illustrative dataOpen Interest % gainers

Real tool · illustrative dataMost active

Real tool · illustrative dataVolume surge

Real tool · illustrative dataVolume above Open Interest

Real tool · illustrative dataTop losers

Each scan opens sorted by its own figure. Press the head of any column that has a caret to sort by it. The first press sorts largest first; a second press on the same head reverses it. A row with no figure in that column goes last, whichever way you sort. Changing the scan clears your sort.

Real tool · illustrative dataStep 7 · Sorted by Volume

Sortable columns are Change, Open Interest, Open Interest change, Open Interest change %, Volume, Volume vs yesterday or pace, Volume ÷ Open Interest, Traded, IV, Chance worthless, Spread and Spot today. Price, Delta and Build-up have no caret. Ties are broken by money traded, then by the contract's name, so the order never jumps between readings.

The window decides which two readings every change compares. Both live in the first card of Customise (Step 9), and the settings line in the header shows them.

Real tool · illustrative dataStep 8 · The 15 minute window

Real tool · illustrative dataMost active, last 15 minutes

A shorter window is offered only when a stored reading exists close to the exact lookback. The accepted gap is 90 seconds for 5m, 150 seconds for 15m, 180 seconds for 30m and 300 seconds for 1h. Otherwise the capsule is greyed and says Day only right now, or the page says the window is not ready. A longer gap is never printed under a shorter name. When the market file is missing and the page has read the chains directly, only Day is available. The stored minutes are kept for about the last 75 minutes, so the 1h window exists only while a minute about an hour earlier is still stored.

Expiry is Current, Next, Far or All. Current, Next and Far are each underlying's own first, second and third tracked expiries, so they are not the same dates for an index and a stock. All lists every tracked expiry, and every row prints its date and days to expiry.

On expiry day, an option stops trading at 15:30 IST. From then on that day's series is settled. It stays in the closing file, but it is no longer anyone's current expiry: Current moves on to the next expiry, Next to the one after, and so on. The same rule holds in Contracts, Underlyings and Custom. So after 15:30 IST on a NIFTY expiry day, Current lists the following NIFTY expiry, not the one that has just settled.

Press Customise in the page bar. The panel reads top to bottom as four questions: what to scan, which underlyings, which rows, how liquid. Expert limits are folded under More settings. Every change applies at once, so the only buttons are Reset and Close. The panel opens with focus on Close, never on Reset, so a stray Enter cannot wipe the screen.

Real tool · illustrative dataStep 9 · Customise for Contracts

The basic controls

For this view, ITM means a Call whose strike is below spot or a Put whose strike is above it. Everything else counts as OTM: a Call at or above spot, a Put at or below it. There is no ATM choice here, so each strike is split by its side: at the strike nearest spot, one side is ITM and the other is OTM (both are OTM only when the strike equals spot). That is the Contracts view's own rule, and it is why the Custom view's OTM capsule, which leaves out the ATM strike on both sides, can list slightly different rows.

Real tool · illustrative dataMore settings, opened

More settings

The last card of the panel, ATM Open Interest in context, is marked Experimental. It ranks the Open Interest at the at-the-money strike and one strike either side against the same underlying's last 12 settled expiries at the same distance from expiry, as of the last close, and can keep only underlyings whose reading is unusual. It describes positioning and is not a forecast. It is off until you switch it on.

Nothing you set is ever hidden. The header lists every setting in force. A setting that differs from the default is a capsule with a cross, where it falls in the line; each run of defaults between them is one quiet sentence that opens Customise. Press a capsule's cross to undo that one setting. Reset returns every setting to its default, clears your symbol list and keeps the scan you are on.

Real tool · illustrative dataStep 10 · Chips

Real tool · illustrative dataThe list under those chips

On the page itself, the address bar carries the scan and every setting that differs from the default; a page left at its defaults has a plain address. Bookmark the page or send the link and it opens the same view with the same settings. The names are readable, for example:

/options-scanner?scan=short-build&market=stocks&type=PE&strikes=otm&min_oi_change=25&expiry=next

The side is written as a two-letter code: CE is the link's code for Call and PE is its code for Put. In the tables, the tag reads Call or Put. Inside the Terminal widget the settings stay in memory for that widget and the address bar is left alone. A value that cannot be read is ignored, never guessed. A minimum above its maximum is dropped as a pair, because it could match nothing. Your symbol list stays yours and is not part of a link.

Each scan puts its most important figures first. At 1440 pixels wide or less a table keeps its first ten columns, and at 1280 pixels or less its first six, so the card never needs a sideways scroll to be read. (A Contracts table has at most nine columns, so in practice it folds at 1280 pixels and below.) A switch at the top left of the table, All columns, brings the rest back; the card then scrolls sideways with the contract name pinned. It becomes Fewer columns once pressed.

Real tool · illustrative dataFolded

Real tool · illustrative dataAll columns pressed

The Underlyings and Custom tables fold at the same two widths, from the same rule. In Underlyings the six that stay at 1280 pixels are Price, Change %, ATM IV, Expected move, Open Interest change and Traded.

The Search symbol box beside the scan picker filters the list by name. A whole symbol means that underlying alone: typing NIFTY lists NIFTY and not BANKNIFTY. Part of a name finds every symbol that contains it.

If the scan has nothing for that symbol, the list says so in place: No contracts match “TCS”, with the line Nothing on this list for that symbol. Clear the search, or try another scan. and a Clear search button that empties the box without leaving the page. Underlyings does the same (No underlyings match “TCS”). Without a search, the empty list offers Customise instead.

For a standing list, use the symbol list in Customise, under Underlyings. Type symbols separated by commas, semicolons or spaces, then choose Only these to keep just them, or Exclude these to remove them. With no symbols typed, the list is off whichever choice is made. The list is kept in your browser, shared by every scanner view, and each view shows it as a chip while it is in force.

Real tool · illustrative dataStep 12 · A symbol list

Press a contract's name, or anywhere on its row, to open the option chain's own strike studio for that contract, without leaving the scanner. Only symbols the site lists can be opened. Press Escape or the cross to close it.

Real tool · illustrative dataStep 13 · The contract dialog

The studio carries the chart, the payoff, the Greeks and every figure of that contract, and it can step to neighbouring strikes with the arrows beside the strike name. The scanner adds two short cards at the top of the rail:

Real tool · illustrative dataClose-up · the two rail cards

• The underlying card gives the price, today's change, the sector for a stock, and a link to the full option chain.
• On the list gives the premium from and to, the change in percent and per lot in rupees, what traded, the Open Interest from and to, the volume against yesterday (or against today's pace), and the build-up. Its note says how it was measured and the lot size, for example "Against the previous close. Lots of 65."
• If you step to another strike inside the studio, the On the list card goes away, because that contract is not the one the scan listed.

Real tool · illustrative dataClose-up · Chance worthless

The reading is built in three steps. The expiry's price is centred on the price its Calls and Puts imply together, known as the put–call parity forward. The spread around that centre follows the expiry's implied volatility smile when the smile reads sensibly, and otherwise a single bell curve at the contract's own implied volatility. The chance is then the share of that distribution at or beyond the strike.

The column appears in the Open Interest and build-up scans, is sortable, and can be filtered as a from–to range under Customise, in the Contract group. A settled expiry has no reading and shows a dash; a set filter leaves such contracts out. Selling an option that shows 90% is not a 90% win: the writer keeps a small premium in most cases and carries the tail risk in the rest, which the percentage says nothing about.

Underlyings, Step by Step

Here one row is a stock or an index. The first scan, All, reads that underlying's options: how much movement they price, how that compares with what the underlying actually did, and where positions sit. The other eight scans read its near-month future.

Press Underlyings in the page bar. The scan picker has four families: All, Price, Open Interest and Build-up. The page opens on All, current expiry, every market, with underlyings whose options traded under ₹1 crore at that expiry left out. The status line says how many underlyings are listed, and while the daily candles are still being read it says, for example, realised volatility 12 of 19 read. The heading reads Underlyings on the All scan and the scan's name on the futures scans. Under each name sits the expiry date and the days to expiry, for example 12 days to expiry or Expiry day.

While the option books load the page says Loading option books…, and it does not wait for ever. A market-file request that stalls for more than 20 seconds counts as missing, and the page then reads each underlying's option chain on its own (a banner says so and offers Read again, and names the underlyings that could not be read). If not one chain answers, the page says No option books could be read and that this is not a filter result. If there is no list of underlyings to read from at all, it says No underlyings to read and links to the option chain, which still opens for any symbol.

Real tool · illustrative dataStep 1 · The All scan

For one column's formula at a glance, see the column quick reference. The All scan has fifteen columns in five bands. Volatility figures are in percentage points a year. Realised volatility uses 30 trading days.

Real tool · illustrative dataLeft half · Price and Volatility

Real tool · illustrative dataRight half · Skew to Covered call

Press anywhere on an underlying's row, or the small arrow beside its name (the keyboard reaches the same toggle through that arrow). A panel opens beneath it with one card for each figure, saying in plain words what it reads. Press More detail under the cards for how each was worked out with that row's own numbers, and a caution where the reading needs one. The panel also offers three buttons: that underlying's contracts (which opens the Contracts view with the symbol searched), its option chain, and its implied volatility page. Pressing the underlying's name does something else: it opens a chart of its near-month future in a dialog, with 1m, 5m, 15m, 1h and 1D intervals, studies, and trend-line and level drawings. On the 1D interval a bar is a day, so the readout and the latest-bar card date it by the day alone, for example 19 Oct, with no 09:15 time; the shorter intervals print the time in IST.

Real tool · illustrative dataStep 3 · NIFTY, opened

This is the quickest way to learn the page. Read a card, then check the working against the table; after a few underlyings the columns need no explaining.

The eight scans after All read each underlying's near-month future over the chosen window: Top gainers and Top losers by futures price, Open Interest gainers and losers, and the four build-ups, each from futures price and futures Open Interest together. The window (5m, 15m, 30m, 1h or Day) applies to these scans only, not to All. Futures Open Interest adds every listed month (up to three), so positions rolled from one month to the next cancel out.

Real tool · illustrative dataStep 4 · Long build-up on futures

Futures are read underlying by underlying, so a futures scan takes a moment the first time and the status line counts them: Reading futures 14 of 19. An underlying with no futures reading for the window is counted and left out. The futures build-up follows only the signs of the price change and the Open Interest change: unlike the contract build-ups, it has no noise floor, so any non-zero change counts. The 5m to 1h futures windows read one-minute candles, with the same tolerances as the contracts.

The panel is smaller than Contracts' because the view has fewer choices.

Real tool · illustrative dataStep 5 · Customise for Underlyings

The link of this view carries view=underlyings and only what differs from these defaults: scan, expiry, window, market, min_value_lakh, sector and q.

Custom, Step by Step

Custom works like a screener built one condition at a time. A prebuilt scan fills in the conditions for you; you can read each one, change it, add another or start from nothing. Every row is a contract or an underlying, as you choose.

Press Custom in the page bar. At the top, Screen for offers Contracts (individual Calls and Puts across the market) and Underlyings (stocks and indices, judged on their options activity). At the right end of that line sit Undo and Redo.

The page opens on its first prebuilt scan, Every contract with money behind it: every option with ₹10 lakh or more traded today (or on the last screen you used, see Step 9). Below that sit the shelf, the filter bar and the results.

Real tool · illustrative dataStep 1 · The Custom view

Real tool · illustrative dataScreen for

The switch keeps every filter that still reads on the new row type. Switching from the starting scan of one row type loads the starting scan of the other whole, with its own floor.

The Prebuilt scans shelf holds 77 ready-made scans in ten tabs. One click loads a whole scan: its market scope, its conditions, its Results view and its order. The conditions are real filters you can read and change, so a scan is also a lesson in how to build one.

Real tool · illustrative dataStep 2 · The shelf

In the prebuilt scans, a stock, futures or company condition is paired with an options condition. A card shows only its name and a count. Under the count a card may instead say what it is waiting on: Reads futures, Reads candles, Reads IV history, Reads company figures, Reads 15 minutes ago (an earlier stored minute) or Market hours (no such minute is stored yet). Those cards are counted once you open them. The short reason for a scan appears when you rest the pointer on it or focus it.

Real tool · illustrative dataA category

Real tool · illustrative dataA scan loaded

Real tool · illustrative dataResting on a card

A card says Edited once you change its conditions, and pressing it loads the scan again. A count of "None today" is a valid answer, not an error.

The filter bar is folded to one line while a screen has conditions: small chips for the scope, a chip for each condition, and Edit filters on the right. Press Edit filters to open it (it reads Done once open). The first row is the Market scope.

Real tool · illustrative dataStep 3 · Folded

Real tool · illustrative dataOpened

Real tool · illustrative dataMarket scope

The scope is the fence around the screen. It always applies as AND, even when the conditions inside it use Match any. The sentence under the row says it: Within this scope, match the conditions below.

Real tool · illustrative dataExpiry

Real tool · illustrative dataChange window

Real tool · illustrative dataA scope capsule with ticks

Every condition is a capsule. A capsule with no value is a figure on offer; a capsule with a value is a condition in force, drawn in ink with its value in bold and a cross to remove it. Press a capsule to open its choices as ticks.

Real tool · illustrative dataStep 4 · A figure capsule

• Ticks in one capsule are alternatives. Ticking "₹10 lakh to ₹1 crore" and "₹1 crore to ₹10 crore" means either of the two.
• A custom range can be typed in the capsule when the figure allows it, for example Open Interest change from 25 to 100 percent.
• A cross on a value empties the capsule but keeps its place; Remove inside the editor takes the capsule away; Clear conditions empties them all at once.
• A contract figure, when each row is an underlying, is shown dimmed with the reason "Only when each row is an option contract".

To add a condition, press Add filter. It opens a search over every figure the scan can read, grouped as a trader thinks of them.

Real tool · illustrative dataWalk the groups

Real tool · illustrative dataOr search

In all, the catalogue holds 123 figures. A figure that reads an underlying (underlying, futures, technicals and company figures) works for both row types; a contract figure works for contract rows only and is dimmed, with the reason, when each row is an underlying.

IV rank and IV percentile

Two figures in the Underlying group place today's implied volatility against its own year. Both read a 30-day IV, a blend of the expiries either side of 30 days, so the rise into every expiry does not move them. IV rank is where today's 30-day IV sits between the year's lowest close (0) and highest close (100). IV percentile is the share of the year's closes that were below today's. A reading above every close in the year shows rank 100, and below every close, 0. The year is the file described in Where the Numbers Come From: its last 252 sessions. With fewer than 60 closes there is no percentile, and with fewer than 252 no rank; the row then says Cannot tell with the reason. Neither figure says which way volatility will go.

The Technicals group reads daily candles at the last close, and the Company group (listed as Company, temporary source) reads company figures from a temporary source the product names in the app. This guide teaches option positioning and price action, so it does not teach those two groups.

Three kinds of capsule go beyond a single figure. They are the heart of Custom, because they let a screen ask about an underlying's own strikes the way a trader reads a chain.

A strike capsule

Under Add filter → At the money, a strike capsule reads a group of strikes counted from the at-the-money strike. It is named like ATM Call or 3 nearest OTM Puts, and its editor has three parts: Call or Put, which strikes, and, when the pick is more than one strike, how many of them.

Real tool · illustrative dataStep 5 · Two strike capsules

Real tool · illustrative dataThe strike editor

Strikes are counted in the strikes the exchange actually lists, so a step of one strike may be 50, 100 or 200 points for NIFTY. OTM and ITM picks never include the ATM strike, and a side that is not listed is not a contract and is left out. A strike condition is answered once for each underlying, and every contract of that underlying shares the answer. A percent premium change inside it keeps the same guards as the Contracts view and answers "cannot tell" with the reason when they are not met.

When a pick holds several strikes, choose Any of them, All of them or At least n of them (offered from 2 up to one fewer than the strikes in the pick). The strike capsule offers Build-up, Open Interest change % and price change % at once; + Another figure for the same contract adds any other contract figure by search. Every ticked group must hold on the same contract. The Add filter menu lists five picks (ATM, Nearest OTM, 3 nearest OTM, Nearest ITM and ATM and 2 either side); the Which strikes choice inside the editor offers all ten in the table above.

The future capsule

Real tool · illustrative dataThe future editor

A group capsule

A group holds several conditions inside one capsule and joins them by its own All or Any. It is how a screen says "this or that" inside an otherwise strict screen. In its editor you choose All or Any of its members and can remove a member; groups come with the prebuilt scans that need them.

Real tool · illustrative dataA scan with a group

Real tool · illustrative dataThe group editor

The Match capsule at the right end of the Conditions row chooses how separate capsules are joined. All conditions keeps a row only when it meets every condition. Any condition keeps a row when it meets at least one. Market scope always applies, whichever you choose, and a missing figure never counts as a match.

Real tool · illustrative dataStep 6 · Match

The conditions are Long build-up, and Open Interest change of at least 25%. All keeps only contract A, since it meets both. Any keeps all three, since each meets at least one. All narrows a list and Any widens it.

Yes, no, or cannot tell

Each test answers Yes, No or Cannot tell. A figure that is missing, such as a contract with no earlier reading in the window, is never read as zero, and the row is never listed on a guess. The page counts how many could not be answered and says why in a note above the table, for example Cannot tell for 12: Not traded yesterday (12). Other reasons read "No reading from 15 minutes earlier", "No IV", "Starting premium under ₹2", "Futures not read yet" and the like, and the Results line shows "12 unavailable".

Working through every contract of the market takes a moment, so the page does it in small steps. Meanwhile the Results line reads Scanning with a count such as Scanning 8 of 19 underlyings, the last list stays on screen, and the page stays usable. If the market file never arrives and there is no list of underlyings to read from, Custom says No underlyings to read instead of waiting.

The Results line says how many rows meet the screen, when the market was read, and the window measured. At its right, the Results view selector chooses which columns the table shows.

Real tool · illustrative dataStep 7 · The Results line

Real tool · illustrative dataThe Filters view

The table shows 50 rows at a time, with a Show 50 more button. The first head, Contract or Underlying, carries the number of rows and a small Symbol search box. Press + Column at the end of the table's head to add a figure. The Results view switches to Custom and shows your columns, starting from the columns that were on show so nothing disappears. Press a head to sort by it; the first press sorts largest first for a figure and A to Z for a word.

Real tool · illustrative dataA column added

The Customise button in the page bar manages those columns. It lists them in order, each with move up, move down and remove, an Add a column choice under the list, and Reset returns to the starting view of the row type. Filters stay on the page, above the table.

Real tool · illustrative dataCustomise in Custom

Switch Screen for to Underlyings and each row becomes a stock or an index, judged on its own options, future and figures. A strike capsule then asks about the underlying's strikes, so "ATM Call in long build-up" lists the underlyings whose ATM Call is in that pattern.

Real tool · illustrative dataStep 8 · Rows are underlyings

Press an underlying's name to open the reason it is listed. For each condition you will see Yes, No or Cannot tell, what the figure read, and for a strike capsule the contracts it examined, with their Open Interest, change, price, volume, build-up and answer.

Real tool · illustrative dataWhy it is listed

The note at the foot says it plainly: Open Interest counts open positions, not who traded them. Names such as writing or covering are conventions, not records.

Every change to the screen can be undone: a condition added, a tick changed, a scan loaded, the Match choice. Undo and Redo sit at the top right, and the keyboard works too (Ctrl or Cmd + Z, and add Shift to redo), except inside a text field or an open panel. The history holds the last 60 changes. Choosing a scan from the shelf starts a new history.

Real tool · illustrative dataStep 9 · After an edit

• The page reopens on the last screen you used, in your browser, unless a link names a screen.
• The address bar carries the whole screen. A link names its view (view=custom), the lit scan when there is one (scan=) and the screen itself (screen=). A link that cannot be read falls back to the last screen used, with a note, and is never guessed at. A scan= link names a prebuilt scan by its short id and opens it.
• Nothing is exported. The scanner has no export and no separate "save screen" button in the three views today. Keeping a screen means keeping its link. The product has no list of named, saved screens.

The Traps That Make a Scanner List Mislead

The question Why did this list mislead me, and how do I stop it?

Trap 1: A percentage on a tiny base

A percentage removes the size of the base from a comparison, which is useful and also the problem. A far strike holding 2 lots that grows to 60 prints a bigger percentage than any busy strike will all day, and almost nobody built a view around 58 lots.

Sorted by percent alone, the thin strike wins by a factor of more than a hundred, while the busy strike added seventeen times as many lots. So several scans carry a guard, and these are the defaults today:

Real tool · illustrative dataGuards off

Real tool · illustrative dataDefault guards

Real tool · illustrative dataStarting premium guard off

Real tool · illustrative dataDefault guards

Read the table with one more fact in mind: the guards are defaults you can change, and they do not reach every scan. Open Interest gainers and losers (in lots), the four build-ups, Most active and Volume surge are protected only by the ₹10 lakh money floor. A contract opened from zero Open Interest also skips the build-up noise floors, and shows "new" instead of a percentage.

Trap 2: Illiquid strikes

A contract can top a list and still be a contract nobody can trade at a fair price. Three things show it: the Spread column (a spread of 8% of the middle price is what crossing the quote can cost), the Volume column (a premium that moved on 2 lots has not been tested), and a Last price that is old. Use Bid/ask spread, at most and Volume, at least under More settings to keep them off. The money floor counts the whole day's traded value even in a short window, so a contract with an old last price and one big trade can pass it. The lowest floor you can set, ₹0, shows every contract that traded, including far strikes that trade a lot or two.

Trap 3: A model chance is not a forecast

Chance worthless, Expected move and the "two-in-three" range are readings of option prices. They move every minute and are only as good as the prices and the smile they read. A Put showing 90% can still be exercised against its writer; the figure says how the market prices that outcome, not how it will end.

Trap 4: Build-up names are conventions

Open Interest has a buyer and a writer on every contract. "Short build-up" is often read as writing and "Short covering" as buying back, but the scanner records neither who traded nor why. Treat each name as a description of two numbers moving together, and look for a second reading (the same pattern on the neighbouring strikes, or on the future) before leaning on it.

Trap 5: An old, partial or incomparable reading

• An old reading. If the status line says "older than 3 minutes" during the session, the market file has not refreshed. Wait for the next minute before drawing a conclusion.
• A window that is not ready. A short window needs a stored minute close to the exact lookback. The page says so, and does not print a longer gap under a shorter name.
• Different expiries. One row may be a one-day option and the next a 22-day one. Their premiums, Chance worthless and Open Interest do not compare. Read the days to expiry under every name.
• A missing figure. A limit on IV, delta or Chance worthless leaves out contracts without that figure, and in Custom a row that cannot be answered is never listed on a guess. The page counts them.

Trap 6: Expiry-day behaviour

On the day an option expires, its time value is almost gone and a small move in the underlying changes its premium by a large percent. Far strikes sit at or near the smallest tick, so percentages become meaningless and gainers and losers fill with contracts nobody could trade. Spreads can be wide and fills poor. A Chance worthless of 95% is the market's price for the outcome, not safety, and a seller who keeps a small premium most days carries the tail on the rest. The scanner describes this; it does not warn you, and it does not compute charges or margin. See Risk notes.

One more expiry-day change comes at 15:30 IST, when trading in the expiring series stops. From then on that series is settled and leaves Current in all three views, so Current shows the next expiry. A list read at 15:20 and one read at 15:45 can therefore cover different expiries. Read the date under each name.

Risk Notes: What the Scanner Does Not Count

The question What can go wrong between a good-looking row and an actual trade?

• Spread. A row shows the last price, not what you will pay. A spread of 8% means crossing the quote can cost about that much of the premium. On a thin contract the book can move as you place the order.
• The cost of one lot. The premium times the lot size (for NIFTY, 65 at the date of this guide) is what one lot costs, and a percent gain on a small premium says little about it. Customise shows Premium per lot.
• Expiry day. Time value is almost gone and premiums change by large percents on small moves. A seller's profit is small and limited; the loss is not. See Trap 6.
• Charges, taxes and margin are not computed here. The scanner shows no brokerage, exchange charges or taxes, and no margin needed to write an option. Check them in your broker's own tools. The Strategy Builder's strategy finder includes fees and slippage in its own figures.
• Old readings and thin books. The floor counts the day's traded value, so a contract with one big trade and an old last price can pass. Read Spread and Volume with Price.
• None of this is advice. The scanner lists and describes. A row at the top of a list matched a question; it is not a conclusion.

A Practical Routine: Expiry Day and Positional

The question What do I do at 09:20, at 11:00, and on a position held across days?

A scanner is most useful as a fixed order of questions. Here are two, one for the day an index expires and one for a position held across days. Both only decide where to look next; each ends with the option chain, where the contract is read cell by cell, and none of it is advice.

Routine 0: The first 30 minutes (09:15 to 09:45)

At the open, only 5m is usable before about 09:30, and 15m and 30m wait for their earlier reading (see the time-of-day guide). So:

1. 09:15 to 09:20. Use Day. Contracts, Most active, search the index symbol. If Traded is empty, little has traded under the ₹10 lakh floor yet: wait a minute, or lower the floor in Customise and read the Spread column with care. The checklist Why a contract or list is missing or empty covers the rest.
2. 09:20 to 09:30. Switch the window to 5m for Open Interest gainers. Read the status line: it must say measured … → … IST. If the capsule is greyed, stay on Day.
3. From about 09:30. 15m is available; from about 09:45, 30m. Then follow Routine 1.

Routine 1: Expiry day, one index (illustrative)

The aim is to see where money is trading and where positions are changing in the current expiry, before reading the chain.

1. Where is money trading now? Contracts, Most active, window 15m, search the index symbol. Read Traded, then Spread: a wide spread on a busy contract is a cost to count.

Real tool · illustrative dataExpiry day · step 1

2. Where are positions being added or closed? Open Interest gainers over 30m for the same symbol. Read the lots before the percentage, then the build-up name.

Real tool · illustrative dataExpiry day · step 2

3. Is the pattern repeated nearby? Change to Short build-up or Long build-up and look at the neighbouring strikes. One strike is a data point; a cluster is a pattern.
4. Open the contract. Press the name. The dialog gives the breakeven and the payoff; the On the list card repeats the numbers behind the row.
5. Confirm in the chain. Open the option chain and read the strike's quote, spread and depth before anything else.

On expiry day premiums of far strikes sit at or near the smallest tick and percentages become meaningless; the guards exist to screen those out. After 15:30 IST the expiry that settled leaves Current, so the same steps then read the next expiry. The scanner does not claim that a pattern seen at 14:20 persists to the close. This routine is shown at 14:20 for the picture; run it at the time you trade, with the windows that are ready by then.

Routine 2: Positional, stock options at the next expiry (illustrative)

The aim is to find where positions have been added over the day in stock options that are far enough from expiry to hold, and then to read whether the options are expensive or cheap against what the stock has done.

1. Where were positions added? Contracts, Long build-up (or Short build-up), Customise: Market Stocks, Expiry Next, window Day, money floor ₹1 crore (100 in the ₹ lakh box).

Real tool · illustrative dataPositional · step 1

2. What do the options say about the stock? Switch to Underlyings, search the symbol, and open its row. Read ATM IV against Realised 30d, the Expected move to expiry, and Near ÷ next.
3. Does a second view agree? In Custom, load a prebuilt scan from the Stocks or Strikes tab, or build one: the ATM Call in long build-up, Match All conditions, expiry Next. Two views that agree describe the same positions from two sides; neither one predicts.
4. Confirm in the chain, and read what one lot costs (Premium per lot, in Customise), which the percentage on the list does not show.

A routine like this does not predict. It shortens the time from "something changed" to "this is what changed, and here is its size". Before acting on any of it, read Risk notes: spread, the cost of one lot, charges and margin are not computed here.

Why a Contract or List Is Missing or Empty

The question I expected a contract or a list, and it is not there. Why?

Work down this list in order. Each item is something the page itself says or does. A count of 0 beside a scan is a valid answer: no contract fits that question now.

If none of these explains it, the contract may simply not be in the list of underlyings the scanner reads (not yet confirmed), or it may not have traded.

Which Tool When

The question Do I use the scanner, the option chain, the strategy builder or an Open Interest tool?

A good order is the scanner to find, the option chain to read, and the Strategy Builder only if you are building a position.

Column Quick Reference

The question What does this column mean, how is it worked out, and where do I see it?

Each row has its own address, so a link such as #col-worthless lands on it. The steps explain the columns in context: Contracts, Step 5 and Underlyings, Step 2.

Contracts view

Underlyings view, All scan

Links, Limits and Where the Strategy Baskets Went

The question How do I share or keep a setting, and where did the strategy baskets go?

Every view carries its whole setting in the address bar, so a view can be bookmarked or sent. Contracts and Underlyings write only what differs from the defaults; Custom writes the screen itself. A link that cannot be read falls back to the defaults, or in Custom to the last screen used, and is never guessed at. The symbol list is yours alone and is not part of a link. A Custom link carrying more than 40 conditions, or a screen longer than 16000 characters, is rejected on reading and the last screen used is shown instead. Inside the terminal widget, the settings stay in memory for that widget and the address bar is left alone.

The scanner places no orders, and nothing leaves it except a link carrying the settings. Ready-made strategy baskets are not a scanner view any more: they are checked in the strategy finder of the Strategy Builder, and an older scanner link that names strategies opens there with the same settings (an old address such as /options-scanner?view=strategies is passed on to /strategy-builder with the same parameters).

Open the live Options Scanner · Option Chain Guide · Open Interest Spurts Guide · Implied Volatility Guide · Strategy Builder Guide

Glossary

The question What does this word mean in the scanner?

ATM, ITM, OTM

At the money: the strike nearest the underlying's price. In the money: a Call with its strike below spot or a Put with its strike above it. Out of the money: the rest. The Contracts view has only ITM and OTM, so the at-the-money strike falls on one side or the other; Custom has ATM as its own choice.

Build-up

Premium and Open Interest moving together. Long build-up: both up. Short build-up: premium down, Open Interest up. Short covering: premium up, Open Interest down. Long unwinding: both down. A move under the noise floor is "no clear pattern".

Chance worthless

The model's chance that an option ends out of the money at expiry, read from the expiry's smile around the forward. Not a forecast.

Covered call

Owning shares and selling a Call against them. The scanner's column is the yearly yield of doing it at the ATM strike if the price is unchanged at expiry.

Delta

How much the premium moves for a one-point move in the underlying.

Days to expiry (DTE)

Calendar days to expiry, printed under each name as, for example, 12 days to expiry, or Expiry day on the day itself. Customise calls the limit Days to expiry; the settings capsule abbreviates it to DTE.

Expiry

The date an option ends. Current, Next and Far are each underlying's own first, second and third tracked expiries that still trade. From 15:30 IST on expiry day, the settled expiry is no longer Current.

Expected move

On this screen: price × ATM IV × √(years left), a 1 SD model range to expiry with about a 2-in-3 chance of finishing inside it. It says how far, not which way. Elsewhere on the site the expected move is 0.85 × the ATM straddle; the two differ (expected move definition pending).

Floor

The smallest amount a contract needs to be listed, such as ₹10 lakh traded today. The page says how many contracts a floor left out.

Forward

The price of the underlying for a given expiry implied by its Calls and Puts together (the put–call parity forward).

Future (near-month)

The nearest futures contract of the underlying. The futures scans add the Open Interest of every listed month (up to three).

Implied volatility (IV)

The yearly movement the option's price implies. ATM IV is read at the money.

IV rank, IV percentile

Where today's 30-day IV sits in its own year. Rank: between the year's low (0) and high (100). Percentile: the share of the year's closes below today's.

Lot

The smallest quantity that trades. Open Interest and volume are shown in lots.

Match (All, Any)

How conditions are joined in Custom. All conditions needs every condition; Any condition needs one. Market scope always applies.

Near ÷ next

The current expiry's IV divided by the next expiry's, per trading day: the term structure.

Open Interest

The number of option contracts still open. Every open contract has a buyer and a writer.

PCR

Put Open Interest divided by Call Open Interest.

Premium

The price of an option, in rupees per unit. Per lot it is the premium times the lot size.

Realised volatility

How much the underlying actually moved over its last 30 trading days, as a yearly figure, by the Yang–Zhang method.

Skew

IV priced for Puts a set distance below the forward minus IV for Calls the same distance above.

Spread

(Ask − bid) ÷ the middle of the two, as a percent. A wide spread is a cost of getting in and out.

Starting Open Interest

The Open Interest a window began with. The % scans and Volume ÷ Open Interest need at least 50 lots of it by default.

Traded ₹

Average traded price × contracts traded: the money that changed hands.

Window

The two readings every change compares: the previous close (Day), or a stored minute 5, 15, 30 or 60 minutes earlier.

Questions People Ask

The question Is my question already answered?

These are the scanner's detailed answers. Four short ones (what the three views are, Chance worthless, the starting Open Interest floor, and whether it places orders) are in the Questions block at the foot of the page, and are not repeated here.

What We Have Not Verified

The question Which statements in this guide are not yet confirmed?

Sources

The question Where does each part of this guide come from?

Paths are in the product's source, under src/features/options-scanner/ unless shown otherwise. Values as of 19 October 2026; each number's own source is in options-scanner-parts/limits.mjs.